FORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the presidential candidate for the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, have condemned the detention of human rights activist Omoyele Sowore by the Nigeria Police Force and demanded his immediate release.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 poll, made his call for Sowore’s release on Thursday through his verified X handle.
He described the detention of the former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) as “shameful, unlawful, and a personal vendetta.”
Abubakar maintained that Sowore’s only offence was speaking out against injustice, corruption, and bad leadership.
He added that it was wrong for the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, to act as both the complainant and the one using police to settle personal scores.
Abubakar said no police officer had the right to institute any legal proceeding in his interest or on matters arising out of his public duties.
“This is not just about Sowore. It is an attack on every Nigerian who speaks the truth. It must stop,” he stated.
Also commenting on Sowore’s arrest and detention, Obi, in a tweet on Friday, called for the immediate release of the activist.
The former Anambra State governor said he wondered why the police would arrest a citizen who voluntarily honoured an invitation.
Obi, who stated that he was deeply troubled by the actions of the Nigerian law enforcement agencies, also pointed out that the police had not made public any clear or credible charges against Sowore.
He stressed that the police action had further cast a troubling shadow over the nature and motivation behind Sowore’s detention.
“To detain a citizen who came of his own accord, without the public disclosure of clear, lawful charges, is not only a miscarriage of justice but also an abuse of state power,” Obi said.
He cautioned that anything short of releasing the activist would further weaken the public trust in the nation’s law enforcement institutions.
Sowore, a publisher of Sahara Reporters, an online news platform, was arrested on Thursday after he voluntarily honoured an invitation at the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force, Abuja.
This is not the first time the Nigerian security operatives have arrested Sowore.
In 2019, he was illegally abducted and detained by operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) for planning to stage the RevolutionNow protest, which sought an end to bad governance in Nigeria.
After much pressure from within and from some members of the international community, the late former President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal government released him from detention.
A reporter with the ICIR
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