Amnesty International demands police release activist Sowore and allow him “exercise his rights to peaceful assembly without fear of reprisal”
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
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“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 a series of human rights violations.
“Since 2019, Sowore has been facing arbitrary detentions and unfair trials solely for the peaceful exercise of his human rights – Amnesty International.
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Amnesty International Nigeria has demanded the police release rights activist Omoyole Sowore detained on Wednesday after he honoured invitation to appear over an undisclosed petition alleging defamation against him.
Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, in the company of supporters, arrived at Force Headquarters in Abuja where he was supposed to be interrogated by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Monitoring Unit over alleged “forgery and inciting disturbance.”
It is not clear if the allegation is connected with Sowore’s monthslong campaign against President Bola Tinubu’s extension of IGP Kayode Egbetokun’s tenure beyond his retirement mandated by law.
Amnesty International described Sowore’s detention in a post on X as the latest in a series of ongoing harassments and intimidation by the police.
It slammed the charges against him as “bogus and politically motivated” and urged the authorities to drop all allegations and allow him exercise his rights to freedom of expression without fear of reprisal.
“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,” the post demanded.
“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 a series of human rights violations.
“Since 2019, Sowore has been facing arbitrary detentions and unfair trials solely for the peaceful exercise of his human rights.”
Amnesty International in November 2019 declared Sowore a Prisoner of Conscience after his initial arbitrary detention, saying “the case of Sowore shows just how far the authorities in Nigeria can go to silence peaceful dissent.”
His latest detention has ignited a wave of protests and trending across social media platforms, hashtags such as #FreeSoworeNow and #RevolutionNow.
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