The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has urged the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to release human rights activist and Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, immediately or charge him to court.
Sowore, on Thursday, revealed that at 6:00 a.m., a police team led by a Chief Superintendent from the IGP Monitoring Unit forcibly gained entry into his cell at the Force Intelligence Department in Abuja, claiming they were taking him to court.
He disclosed that the team of nine officers, including eight heavily armed personnel, handled him roughly when he asked to see the charges and notify his lawyers. The activist stated that the officers broke his arm in the process before taking him to another police facility.
Reacting to the arrest in a statement on Thursday night, Obi said: “I was deeply disturbed to learn of the arrest of Mr. Omoyele Sowore yesterday, shortly after he voluntarily honoured an invitation by the Nigerian Police Force. At the time of writing, no clear or credible charges have been made public, which further casts a troubling shadow over the nature and motivation behind his detention.
“His arrest, particularly under circumstances where he presented himself in good faith to law enforcement, should be condemned by all who value justice and due process. From all indications, no urgency or criminal flight risk warranted such high-handed treatment.”
The politician condemned the arrest, lamenting that detaining 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.
He continued: “As the ancient Greek philosopher Plato rightly said, ‘Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.’
“When those entrusted with power act unjustly, they poison not only the legal order but the moral conscience of the nation. I therefore call on the Nigerian Police to immediately release Omoyele Sowore or charge him formally under the law.”
The former Anambra State governor noted that anything short of release or charge would further erode public trust in the nation’s law enforcement institutions.
He added that it is the collective duty of Nigerians to insist that the rule of law applies to all citizens — regardless of ideology, background, or political alignment.
