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Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, was reportedly assaulted and re-arrested by police officers outside the Kuje Magistrate Court shortly after being granted bail, News360 Nigeria reports.
Eyewitnesses said the incident happened moments after Magistrate Abubakar Umar Sai’id granted bail to Sowore and 13 others who had been arrested during the recent #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest in Abuja.
While his legal team was finalising the bail process, police officers allegedly led by the Investigating Police Officer, CSP Ilyasu Barau, who heads the Anti-Vice Unit under the FCT Command’s DC-CID, attacked Sowore, punched him, and dragged him into a waiting van.
According to witnesses, the activist resisted as officers tried to take him away without explanation. “The IPO punched him, dragged him on the ground, and forced him into the van. They really manhandled him,” an eyewitness recounted.
Another observer claimed that when Sowore’s lawyers demanded to see the remand order, the officers refused to produce any document. “The police took Sowore away to Kuje Prison despite his bail, citing a secret remand order,” the source said.
Earlier in the day, Sowore and 13 others, including Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, and his brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, had been granted bail after being arraigned on charges of unlawful assembly and disturbance of public peace.
The circumstances surrounding Sowore’s re-arrest have sparked outrage among observers and human rights advocates, who have condemned the police action as a violation of due process and judicial authority.
