Court grants bail to Sowore, 12 others arrested during #FreeNnamdiKanu protest
A magistrate’s court in Kuje, Abuja, on Friday, granted bail to human rights activist and SaharaReporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, and 12 others arrested during Monday’s #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The defendants include Aloy Ejimakor, lawyer to detained Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu, and Mr Kanu’s brother, Emmanuel Kanu.
They were arraigned before magistrate Abubakar Umar Sai’id on two counts of unlawful assembly and disturbance of public peace. The defendants denied the charges.
Sahara Reporters reported that the court granted bail in the sum of N500,000 each.
The defendants are required to submit their passports, present a verified National Identification Number (NIN) and a three-year tax clearance certificate as part of the conditions.
Mr Sowore was arrested on Thursday by police officers outside the Federal High Court in Abuja, where he had appeared for a separate case filed against him by the police.
Spokesperson for the Nigeria Police Force, Benjamin Hundeyin, told journalists that Mr Sowore led a group of protesters into a restricted area during Monday’s demonstration calling for the release of detained IPOB leader Mri Kanu.
He said the arrest was part of efforts to ensure that justice applies equally to everyone involved.
“If we go ahead to charge some people to court and leave the person who led them into that restricted area — their leader, the elite protester who directed and took them there — that would not be fair,” Mr Hundeyin said.
He added that Mr Sowore would not be detained beyond the time permitted by law and would be arraigned without delay.
“Like the others, he wouldn’t spend up to 24 hours with us. Once we finalise the charges, he will be prosecuted. In fact, if everything goes as planned, he will be taken to court today,” the police spokesperson said.
Thursday’s arrest adds to a growing list of confrontations between Mr Sowore and Nigerian security agencies since 2019, when he was detained by the DSS on treason charges for organising the #RevolutionNow protests.
He has since faced multiple criminal cases filed by the police and SSS, including allegations of forgery and cyberstalking against the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and a senior female officer.
Mr Sowore has dismissed the cases as politically motivated, describing the charges as “bogus and farcical” in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
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“They falsely allege that I forged a police wireless message and cyber-bullied the IGP’s ‘girlfriend’ and PSO, ACP Yemisi Kuti,” he wrote.
His lawyers, including Tope Temokun and rights advocate Deji Adeyanju, were at the FCT Police Command on Thursday to demand access to him after reports that he was being held at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Mr Adeyanju later confirmed he had seen Mr Sowore after being initially denied access.
Rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights have repeatedly condemned the Nigerian government’s handling of protests and its prosecution of critics.
Legal experts also say the use of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act against journalists and activists mirrors a growing pattern of criminalising dissent.
The Take It Back Movement (TIB), a civic group aligned with Mr Sowore, had condemned the arrest and threatened nationwide protests if he was not released immediately.
The group described his detention as “an attempt to silence dissenting voices under the guise of law enforcement.”