The Nigeria Police Power has mentioned it arrested human rights activist and Sahara Reporters writer, Omoyele Sowore, on Thursday over Monday’s #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest in Abuja.
Power Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, said this on Thursday whereas addressing journalists in Abuja.
Mr Hundeyin mentioned Mr Sowore allegedly led a gaggle of protesters right into a restricted space throughout an illustration calling for the discharge of detained IPOB chief, Nnamdi Kanu.
He mentioned the arrest was a part of efforts to make sure that justice applies equally to everybody concerned.
“If we go forward to cost some folks to court docket and go away the one who led them into that restricted space — their chief, the elite protester who directed and took them there — that may not be honest,” Mr Hundeyin mentioned.
He added that Mr Sowore wouldn’t be detained past the time permitted by legislation and could be arraigned immediately.
“Just like the others, he wouldn’t spend as much as 24 hours with us. As soon as we finalise the costs, he will likely be prosecuted. In reality, if the whole lot goes as deliberate, he will likely be taken to court docket right now,” the police spokesperson mentioned.
Protest and arrest
Mr Sowore, a former presidential candidate, was arrested on Thursday morning outdoors the Federal Excessive Court docket in Abuja whereas protecting proceedings in a separate case.
His arrest adopted a protest on Monday during which demonstrators demanded the unconditional launch of Mr Kanu, who has been held by the State Safety Companies (SSS) since his re-arrest in 2021 after leaping bail in 2017.
Throughout Monday’s protest, police fired teargas to disperse the group and arrested 12 folks, together with Mr Kanu’s lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, and his brother, Emmanuel Kanu.
Movies from the scene confirmed Mr Sowore operating from the protest website across the Transcorp Hilton space in Abuja earlier than police started making arrests.
Take It Again Motion reacts
In an announcement on Thursday, the Take It Again Motion (TIB) condemned the arrest and demanded Mr Sowore’s rapid launch.
“We now have obtained credible data that the FCT Commissioner of Police invited our comrade and convener, Omoyele Sowore, reportedly in reference to the continuing #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest,” mentioned Sanyaolu Juwon, the group’s nationwide coordinator.
“We want to categorically warn that any type of detention, harassment, or intimidation of Sowore by the Nigeria Police Power or any arm of the Tinubu regime will likely be met with a right away, nationwide mass motion.”
The group described the activist as “a voice of conscience for hundreds of thousands of oppressed Nigerians” and insisted that the fitting to peaceable protest is constitutionally assured.
Earlier run-ins with safety companies
Thursday’s arrest provides to a rising checklist of confrontations between Mr Sowore and Nigerian safety companies since 2019, when he was detained by the DSS on treason expenses for organising the #RevolutionNow protests.
He has since confronted a number of legal instances filed by the police and SSS, together with allegations of forgery and cyberstalking towards the Inspector-Basic of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and a senior feminine officer.
Mr Sowore has dismissed the instances as politically motivated, describing the costs as “bogus and farcical” in a Fb submit on Wednesday.
“They falsely allege that I cast a police wi-fi message and cyber-bullied the IGP’s ‘girlfriend’ and PSO, ACP Yemisi Kuti,” he wrote.
His legal professionals, together with Tope Temokun and rights advocate Deji Adeyanju, had been on the FCT Police Command on Thursday to demand entry to him after experiences that he was being held on the Prison Investigation Division (CID).
Mr Adeyanju later confirmed he had seen Mr Sowore after being initially denied entry.
Reactions
Rights organisations resembling Amnesty International and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights have repeatedly condemned the Nigerian authorities’s dealing with of protests and its prosecution of critics.
Authorized specialists additionally say the usage of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, and so on.) Act towards journalists and activists mirrors a rising sample of criminalising dissent.
The Take It Again Motion (TIB), a civic group aligned with Mr Sowore, had condemned the arrest and threatened nationwide protests if he isn’t launched instantly.
The group described his detention as “an try and silence dissenting voices beneath the guise of legislation enforcement.”
A number of rights teams have additionally linked the arrest to Nigeria’s broader sample of focusing on journalists and activists, regardless of constitutional ensures of free expression.
