The global human rights group posited that the way the government was going about his case revealed a hidden agenda to silence him by all means.
Amnesty International has told the Nigerian Government to end the unfair trail against rights activist and journalist, Omoyele Sowore.
The global human rights group posited that the way the government was going about his case revealed a hidden agenda to silence him by all means.
Media Manager, Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, stated that the Nigerian Government must stop politically motivated charges against critics.
He said, “Omoyele Sowore is in court again today facing an unfair trial.
“We are again calling on Nigerian authorities to drop all charges against him.
“In November 2019 we declared him a Prisoner of Conscience solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression.
“The case of Sowore shows just how far the authorities in Nigeria can go to silence their critics.
“The government of President Muhammadu Buhari needs to stop filing bogus and politically motivated charges against critics and start listening to what they are saying.”
Sowore was arrested in the early hours of August 3, 2019 by operatives of the Department of State Services for calling on Nigerians to take to the streets in peaceful demonstrations on August 5 to demand a better country from the administration of President Buhari.
He was kept in unlawful detention from that period until December 5, 2019 when he was finally released on bail despite two court orders earlier sanctioning his freedom.
In a twist of event, DSS operatives invaded the Federal High Court in Abuja on December 6, 2019 to rearrest him without any court order.
He remained in unlawful detention until 18 days later when he was released by the secret police for the second time.
At the resumption of his trial in a case brought against him by the Nigerian Government, the prosecution failed to prove accusations against him and even went ahead to dropping seven of the charges earlier preferred against him.
The trial resumed today and this time government is accusing him of attempting to overthrow Buhari’s administration by calling on citizens to protest against the regime.