Police Keep Mum As Nigerians Demand The Release Of Sowore

Many Nigerians have demanded the release of Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, and other activists being detained by the police at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The citizens on social media asked President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene as the police have failed to speak on the arrest of the activists, 24 hours after.

247NNU reported how Mr Sowore and other activists were arrested at Gudu junction in Abuja during a protest tagged #CrossoverWithProtest.

The protest, organised by the former presidential candidate, was held in some states with participants carrying candles and placards showing their grievances against the government.

Mr Sowore was reportedly brutalised before being dragged into one of seven vehicles mobilised to the protest ground by the police.

He has since been in custody alongside others at Abattoir police station in Logokoma, Abuja.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Amnesty International, Coalition for Revolution (CORE) and various civil rights organisations have demanded the release of the activists and also threatened to sue the police for the ‘illegal arrests’.

Nigerians have also stormed social media to trend the hashtag #FreeSowore.

Sources familiar with the arrests said the police plan to arraign Mr Sowore and the others on Monday but PREMIUM TIMES was unable to independently verify this as of the time of this report.

Also, an injured Mr Sowore’s picture appeared on social media on Friday evening.

The police have not made any comment on the arrests.

The police spokesperson, Frank Mba, did not respond to repeated calls and text messages put across to him by this newspaper for his comments.

Many have likened the recent development to the 2019 incident when Mr Sowore was arrested by the Buhari administration.

He was detained for over 100 days for calling for a protest. Despite court orders granting him bail, he was only released after local and international pressure.

The police said he was planning to overthrow the government of Mr Buhari.