The Nigeria Police Force has released rights activist and Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore, following days of sustained pressure from local and international rights groups, civil society organisations, highly-placed public figures, and protesters who decried his detention as illegal and politically motivated.
Loading ...Mr Sowore, who had been held at the Force Intelligence Department (FID) in Abuja since Wednesday, announced his release on his official Facebook page late Friday night.
“Nigeria Police Force has capitulated to the demands of the revolutionary movt, I have been released from unjust, illegal & unwarranted detention. However, it is nothing to celebrate, but thank u for not giving up! #RevolutionNow,” he wrote.
The incident began after Mr Sowore was invited by the office of the Inspector-General of Police’s Monitoring Unit to appear at its headquarters in Abuja. He honoured the invitation on Wednesday, August 6, expecting a routine clarification regarding petitions filed against him. However, upon arrival, the activist was detained without charge.
According to police sources, the petitions alleged that Mr Sowore had engaged in cyberbullying and forged a police document, though details of the specific content of the document remain unclear.
Two senior police officers—one at the Force Headquarters and another at the FID—told Peoples Gazette under anonymity that Mr Sowore’s refusal to provide a statement during questioning contributed to his prolonged detention. They alleged that he became uncooperative when asked to write a statement, demanding instead to see the original copy of the police memo he was accused of forging.
By Thursday morning, tensions escalated dramatically after Mr Sowore posted on Facebook and X that he had been assaulted in custody.
According to the activist, about eight armed officers attacked him in his cell at the FID, Force Headquarters, breaking his arm in the process. He alleged that the attack occurred because he refused to sign documents or participate in what he called a “coordinated effort” to legitimise his detention.
Sources familiar with the matter confirmed to The Gazette that the incident left Mr Sowore in visible pain, with his right arm placed in a makeshift sling and later bandaged.
On Friday afternoon, police authorities allowed journalists and a few activists to visit Mr Sowore in detention. During the brief encounter, the activist displayed his bandaged arm and accused the police of staging the visit in a bid to whitewash the brutality he suffered.
“The police refused to give me access to a doctor after they broke my arm. Instead, they brought in cameras and press to cover up what they’ve done,” Mr Sowore said, calling his ordeal a case of political repression masked as a criminal investigation.
Despite the police’s attempt to manage the narrative, the visit only intensified public outrage. Protesters took to the streets in Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, and Osogbo, demanding his immediate release and accusing the police of weaponising law enforcement against critics of the government.
In Lagos, dozens of demonstrators gathered at Ojota and later moved to the Ikeja under-bridge, waving placards and chanting slogans condemning police brutality. In Osun, youths marched through major roads in Ile-Ife and Osogbo, drawing attention to what they described as “a systematic erosion of civil liberties.”
Human rights organisations and media freedom watchdogs also weighed in, urging the federal government to halt what they called an “alarming trend” of arbitrary arrests and intimidation of journalists and dissidents.
