Sowore Released After Four Days In Detention

Human rights activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, has regained his freedom after spending four days in police custody.

Sowore announced his release on the microblogging platform X.

He accused the police of unlawfully detaining him.

“Leaving Kuje Prison in Abuja after being detained there illegally for four days by the official ABAT and illegal IGP, Kayode Egbetokun,” he wrote.

In a live broadcast on his official Facebook page, the activist described his detention as part of a recurring pattern of abuse of power by Nigerian security agencies.

He accused the police of disregarding legal processes and acting outside their constitutional mandate.

According to him, “They can’t warn me about my right. I am supposed to be in Lagos for a protest tomorrow; they can’t stop me. This is not the first time people who are paid to protect protesters have become very likely irresponsible, but it results in warning people about exercising their rights.”

He criticised the police for allegedly enforcing nonexistent court orders and for failing to respect citizens’ constitutional rights.

“You can’t warn me about my right. If the court gives an order and there’s a contravention of that order, you go back to the same court and make your complaint. It is not the job of the police to take it upon themselves and enforce it. So the police, being an irresponsible organisation in Nigeria, took the law into their hands,” Sowore said.

He further alleged that some of the officers who attacked him were beneficiaries of his previous advocacy efforts, adding that their actions reflected the moral decay in the country’s law enforcement system.

“I can guarantee that no court order was served to us. Some of the police who attacked me I had to fight for their retirement benefits a few weeks ago. This is also to tell them that they will soon meet their Waterloo.”

Sowore also condemned the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, calling his position “illegal” and alleging that his continued stay in office reflected administrative failure.

“I can’t be exchanging words with the PRO who clearly doesn’t know his level or the IGP who is illegal. Egbetokun should have been fired if Tinubu knew what he was doing.”

Human rights lawyer and counsel to detained IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, who was also caught up in the incident, described the experience as traumatic.

He said, “The experience was traumatic for me and my colleagues. The mode of arrest was very brutal. We were beaten up and shoved around, and teargas canisters were deployed on us. In fact, if we didn’t have strong lungs, most of us would have given up the ghost on the spot.”

Ejimakor condemned what he described as “executive recklessness”, stating that such acts of violence have no place in a modern democratic society.

“I don’t think that type of brutality has a place in a modern society; this is what we should do away with in Nigeria. Even at the police headquarters CID command in Garki, they deployed a canister of teargas just to bundle us in a van and take us to the abattoir office. Why go to that length when you already have us under your control? That is a clear example of executive rascality,” he said.

The lawyer, who regained freedom on Friday, October 24, 2025, clarified that the protest, which led to their arrest, was not directed at the judiciary but the executive arm of government.

“The protest was directed against the presidency and not the judiciary. If the presidency or the executive branch of government doesn’t put you up for trial, no court has the authority to prosecute you.”

He emphasised that the demonstration was aimed at demanding accountability from the presidency and the Attorney-General’s office over the continuous detention and prosecution of Nnamdi Kanu.

“There is a lot of misunderstanding that we are protesting against the court; allow me to correct that notion. The protest is solely against the presidency and the attorney general who initiated this. So if the presidency or executive rank says the Nnamdi Kanu case should no longer be prosecuted, the court will have nothing to try. This is our stand,” Ejimakor said.

He urged the presidency to end the “unlawful” prosecution of Kanu, whom he described as a victim of political repression.

“It is Tinubu we want to talk to. You don’t have any business prosecuting a man who has done nothing wrong, a man you brought into the country under situations that offend humanity. So withdraw,” he stated.