Sowore decries detention of minors in Kuje prison over alleged Shiite protest
By Ishaya Ibrahim
Human rights activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has alleged that minors are being detained in Kuje Prison over their involvement in a Shiite protest, following his own four-day detention at the facility in October 2025.
Sowore said he encountered the underage detainees while being processed into Kuje Prison after his arrest for leading a protest against former Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun. He claimed his detention was prolonged after a magistrate who granted him bail on a Friday “disappeared,” frustrating the perfection of his bail.
“After granting us bail on a Friday, the magistrate simply disappeared, leaving us unlawfully imprisoned,” Sowore wrote in a social media post on Wednesday after his latest release from prison when a court revoked his bail.
According to Sowore, while being admitted into the facility, he met “numerous underage detainees accused of being Shiites and incarcerated without justice.”
Sowore said the leader of the detained group had suffered a stroke in prison, while many others “appeared to be battling tuberculosis and other illnesses in deplorable conditions.”
“The Nigerian state is unjust, wicked, and relentlessly inhumane,” he stated, adding that he took photos during the period to document the conditions.
The Shiite protest referenced was organised by the Islamic Movement in Nigeria to demand the release of its leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, who has since been released.
