Human rights activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, was on Thursday arrested by armed policemen within the premises of the Federal High Court in Abuja, shortly after attending the court session of detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
Eyewitnesses said Sowore, who was at the court to show solidarity with Kanu, was accosted by security operatives moments after the proceedings ended. The officers reportedly informed him that he was under orders from the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory Command, to report to their office immediately.
“The Commissioner of Police said we should bring you to the office,” one of the officers was quoted as saying when Sowore asked about the reason for his arrest.
The activist, however, questioned the legality of the arrest in the absence of a written invitation and insisted that his lawyer must accompany him before he was eventually taken away in a police van.
Confirming the development on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong condemned the arrest, calling it “preposterous.”
“The police and the Tinubu regime are making a mockery of our judicial system. He should be freed immediately. Stop the shenanigans,” Effiong wrote.
Sowore’s arrest comes just days after he led a protest in Abuja on October 20, as part of the nationwide #FreeNnamdiKanu demonstrations demanding the release of the IPOB leader. During the protest, Kanu’s lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, his brother, Emmanuel Kanu, and ten others were arrested and later remanded at Kuje Prison.
According to the First Information Report filed before a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Kuje, police accused the arrested demonstrators of engaging in criminal conspiracy, incitement, and public disturbance — offences said to contravene Sections 152, 114, and 113 of the Penal Code Law.
The police alleged that the protesters, acting in defiance of a court order, chanted war songs and disrupted traffic in parts of Abuja while calling for Kanu’s freedom.
The court has fixed Friday for the arraignment of the defendants, even as Sowore’s legal team demanded his immediate release and condemned what they described as a “pattern of intimidation against activists and dissenting voices.”
