Okay News reports that the Nigeria Police Force has explained the circumstances surrounding the transfer of human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, to Kuje Prison shortly after being granted bail by a Magistrate Court in Abuja on Friday.
Sowore, who was arrested on Thursday on allegations of incitement and breach of public peace, was arraigned alongside 12 others over the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest that took place earlier in the week.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges, and the court granted him bail in the sum of ₦500,000 with two sureties. However, before his legal team could perfect the bail conditions, police officers reportedly stormed the court and took him into custody again.
Human rights activist, Deji Adeyanju, who witnessed the scene, accused the police of violently removing Sowore from the court premises despite the bail grant.
“Sowore had just been granted bail, and while we were conferring with him here, the police suddenly launched an attack. More than 50 officers violently descended on him and took him away by force. We don’t even know where they have taken him,” Adeyanju told journalists in Abuja.
He added that the officers refused to allow Sowore’s lawyers to inspect a supposed remand order.
“The officer flashed the document, and when we insisted on reviewing it, he pocketed it and ordered that they must go,” Adeyanju said. “When we asked where they were taking him, he said Kuje Prison.”
Adeyanju further alleged that Sowore was assaulted during the confrontation and accused the police of acting vindictively, claiming they said, “Because Sowore called the IG useless, they must deal with him.”
Responding to the controversy, the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Benjamin Hundeyin, defended the police action on X (formerly Twitter), saying the officers acted within the law.
“Except we want to be mischievous, we all know that once court grants a suspect bail, it comes with the caveat that until the bail conditions are met, the suspect remains in custody,” Hundeyin explained.
He added that the remand warrant clearly directed that Sowore be transferred to a correctional facility, not kept in police custody.
“Where it is clearly spelt out on the remand warrant that the suspect be remanded in a correctional facility, not police custody, it is the duty of the police to hand over the suspect to the Nigeria Correctional Service,” Hundeyin stated.
He emphasized that the police were legally empowered to use reasonable force when executing lawful orders.
The development has sparked renewed debate over the treatment of activists and the balance between law enforcement procedures and citizens’ rights in Nigeria.
