Police on Thursday arrested Omoyele Sowore, an activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, at the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, days after he led the #FreeNnamdiKanu protest that shut down the country’s capital.
Deji Adeyanju, legal counsel to Mr Sowore, disclosed the arrest in a post on social media on Thursday morning.
“Omoyele Sowore just arrested at the Federal High Court by the Nigerian police. When will the Nigerian police stop acting jobless?” Adeyanju said.
Adeyanju told Peoples Gazette that he could not immediately explain why the police arrested the politician and activist and that he was not allowed to see Mr Sowore.
Another of Sowore’s legal counsels, Tope Temokun also confirmed his arrest. “He was picked up not too long ago by armed policemen acting under the instructions of the commissioner of police in the FCT,” he said.
The Force Public Relations Officer Benjamin Hundeyin, who later confirmed Sowore’s arrest, said the activist is currently in police custody and will be charged to court today.
According to him, Sowore was arrested for allegedly violating a court order that prohibits protests around the Three Arms Zone in Abuja.
Human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has described Sowore’s arrest as “preposterous.”
“The arrest of Omoyele Sowore at the Federal High Court in Abuja moments ago is 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 via his X handle.
Sowore’s arrest comes a few days after he led a protest demanding the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
During the protests, Kanu’s lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, and Emmanuel Kanu his brother were arrested and remanded in Kuje Prison.
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