Amnesty International Nigeria has condemned the detention of human rights activist and Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore, describing it as arbitrary and demanding his immediate release.
PUNCH Online reports that Sowore, in the company of his supporters, had arrived at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, on Wednesday to honour police invitation.
The NPF, through the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit, is investigating Sowore over alleged “forgery and inciting disturbance.”
In a press release issued on its official X account late Wednesday, Amnesty International described Sowore’s detention as the latest in a series of ongoing harassments and intimidations by the Nigeria Police.
The organisation described the charges against him as “bogus and politically motivated,” urging the authorities to drop all allegations and allow him to exercise his rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly without fear of reprisal.
“The Nigerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Sowore and drop all bogus and politically motivated charges against him. The authorities should listen to critics instead of seeking to gag them through outright abuse of power.
“Nigerian authorities must allow Sowore to freely exercise his rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Apart from putting him through sham trials based on bogus charges, Sowore has been subjected to series of human rights violations.
“Since 2019, Sowore has been facing arbitrary detentions and unfair trials solely for the peaceful exercise of his human rights,” the statement read.
Amnesty recalled that in November 2019, it declared Sowore a Prisoner of Conscience after his initial arbitrary detention, stating that “the case of Sowore shows just how far the authorities in Nigeria can go to silence peaceful dissent.”
The detention has triggered a wave of protests and trending hashtags such as #FreeSoworeNow and #RevolutionNow across social media platforms.
