Amnesty International has strongly condemned the arbitrary detention of human rights activist and journalist Omoyele Sowore who has been detained by the Nigeria Police Force since yesterday.
According to statement made available by Nigeria Police Force, Sowore was invited to the Force Headquarters in connection with an allegation of defamation and forgery levelled against him.
Omoyele Sowore and his team of followers stormed the Headquarters to answer the invitation but was subsequently arrested and detained.
In a statement made available to newsmen, Amnesty International said the Nigerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Sowore and drop all bogus and politically motivated charges against him.
“The authorities should listen to critics instead of seeking to gag them through outright abuse of power.
“Nigerian authorities must allow Sowore to freely exercise his rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
“Apart from putting him through sham trials based on bogus charges, Sowore has been subjected to series of human rights violations.
Meanwhile, the former Nigeria’s Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has also joined voices in condemning continuous incarceration of the Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore.
In a statement made available via his official X handle, Atiku Abubakar was quoted as saying:
“The treatment of Omoyele Sowore by the IGP Monitoring Team is a shameful abuse of power. It is wrong, unlawful, and must be condemned by all who believe in justice.
“Sowore’s only offence is speaking out against injustice, nepotism, and misrule. For that, he was reportedly attacked at dawn, beaten, had his arm broken, and sprayed with chemicals by policemen acting on petitions from the IGP’s own office.
“This is personal vendetta, not policing.
“Even the Nigeria Police Regulation forbids this. Regulation 367 states:
“No police officer shall institute any legal proceeding in his own personal interest or in connection with matters arising out of his public duties.”
“The IGP cannot be a complainant and still deploy the force to carry out his grievance.
“This is not about Sowore alone, it is an attack on every Nigerian who dares to speak truth to power”.