The Nigerian Police on Friday re-arrested human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, shortly after a Magistrate Court in Kuje granted him bail.
The incident occurred outside the court premises, where Sowore had appeared alongside 13 others who were detained for participating in the recent #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest held in Abuja.
Eyewitnesses said that immediately after Magistrate Abubakar Umar Sai’id approved the bail for the defendants, police officers led by CSP Ilyasu Barau, the Officer in Charge of Anti-Vice under the FCT Command’s Criminal Investigation Department, surrounded Sowore.
They reportedly assaulted him before forcing him into a waiting police vehicle.According to witnesses, Sowore resisted as officers attempted to take him away without presenting any legal document authorizing his detention.
Despite the court’s bail decision, the officers allegedly took him to Kuje Prison, claiming they had a remand order which they refused to show.Earlier in the day, Sowore and the others had been arraigned on charges of unlawful assembly and disturbance of public peace.
Those granted bail include Aloy Ejimakor, lawyer to the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, as well as Kanu’s brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, among others.
The activist’s legal team had been processing the bail conditions when the police re-arrested him, sparking outrage among those present at the court.