THE Commissioner of Police (CP) for the Special Intervention Squad, Abayomi Shogunle, has clarified why the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, is being held by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
Shogunle said the human rights activist’s arrest and detention were ordered after he allegedly refused to make a statement upon interrogation.
The CP stated this while addressing Sowore’s supporters who staged a protest in Abuja on Friday. Journalists were also present during the briefing.
The ICIR reported that Sowore was arrested after honouring an invitation from the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit, at the Force Headquarters, in Abuja, on Wednesday, and was subsequently detained.
Speaking on Friday, Shogunle said there were two petitions against Sowore.
He said the petitions against Sowore were presented to him before his lawyers. One of the petition was about alleged forgery of a police document that Sowore had published online, and the other had to do with accusations of cyberbullying.
“The two petitions were shown to him in the presence of his lawyers. The issue now is that he refused to make a statement in the presence of his lawyers. It is in the record.
“And the procedure under the Nigerian law is very clear. When an allegation is made against you, you are called upon; you have a duty to put down your own position,” Shogunle said.
The police commissioner explained that the law granted a suspect the right to remain silent, while also outlining specific duties for the police to follow when a suspect refused to talk.
He emphasised that the police were professionals and were adhering to the procedures laid down by the law.
Additionally, he clarified that Sowore was not coerced into making a statement despite his refusal to talk.
“He has the right to remain silent, and the police also have the duties and responsibilities under the law to follow certain procedures once a suspect decides to keep mute. We won’t say, “Because you have decided to keep mute, you can go,” no,” the CP stated.
When questioned about the police exceeding the 24-hour constitutional limit for detaining an accused, he assured that all legal procedures were being followed.
The CP offered to let some of the protesters visit Sowore’s detention facility to prove he’s not being mistreated.
The ICIR reported that Sowore was kept in police custody nearly a day after honouring an invitation by the Nigeria Police Force’s IGP Monitoring Unit in Abuja.
He had, on Wednesday, August 6, disclosed that he would appear before the unit at 11:00 a.m. on the same day, following a letter of invitation from the police dated August 5 and signed by DCP Akin Fakorede, the Head of the IGP Monitoring Unit.
The invitation, which followed a request from Sowore’s legal team to reschedule a prior appointment, did not include a copy of the petition against him, a move the activist described as an attempt by the police to conceal a sinister plot.
Sowore had questioned the legality of the initial summons and requested that a fresh invitation be issued, adding that the police must clearly state the legal grounds and include prior access to the petition against him.
While the Force rescheduled the appointment, it failed to detail the content of the petition against the activist.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the presidential candidate for the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, are among prominent Nigerians who have condemned the activist’s detention.
They demanded his immediate release.
A reporter with the ICIR
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