Sowore was picked up while leaving the court where he had filed an appeal against the ruling of the Federal High Court that declared Leonard Nzenwa the acting Chairman of the African Action Congress.
Armed police officers arrested human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, in Abuja, while leaving the Court of Appeal.
Sowore was picked up while leaving the court where he had filed an appeal against the ruling of the Federal High Court that declared Leonard Nzenwa the acting Chairman of the African Action Congress.
The operatives had laid an ambush at the entrance of the court in anticipation to arrest the activist.
On sighting his car, the police hurriedly blocked the road as two policemen who were in mufti forced his car open and drove him off to facility of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, popularly known as abattoir.
The officers did not give any reason for his arrest.
Some of his supporters who accompanied him to the court were also chased away with guns.
SaharaReporters gathered that a former member of the House of Representatives, Ned Nwoko, had written a petition accusing of Sowore of defamation following the publication against him in SaharaReporters, an online newspaper, over the arrest of the popular Kayamata merchant, Hauwa Muhammed AKA (Jaruma).
His lawyers, Abubakar Marshal and Inibehe Effiong were said to be on their way to the facility where he is being held.
Narrating how the incident happened On Twitter, Sowore himself said, “Today again, the @mbuhari/@ProfOsinbajo regime sent assassins to trail us on our way to the Court of Appeal, they cut off the rear vehicle conveying our comrades and @aacparty members. They were brutally assaulted and all their phones taken away! #WeCantcontinueLikeThis
“The @mbuhari regime has consistently sent the same set of people to attack me during Court appearances of @MaziNnamdiKanu and also used the police and DSS to carry out these attacks. We are aware that the attacks are coordinated by the DSS and rogue @policeng officers in the FCT.
“This latest tactic of using security agents dressed as vigilante/hunters have become persistent but we are unwavering in our commitment to see to it that the regime is disgraced so that our people could have a new lease of life. #RevolutionNow#WeCantContinueLikeThis.”
Today’s attack is not the first time the Nigerian government would be mobilising thugs to go after Sowore – the latest incident adds to an already swelling list.
On November 9, about 20 thugs were recruited by the Nigeria's secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS) to attack Sowore while he attended the trial of Nmandi Kanu at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
An insider had disclosed how some DSS officials had met with the hoodlums on the morning of that day to brief them on how to carry out the attack on the activist.
In October this year, the DSS also colluded with thugs to attack Sowore in front of the same court after he was denied entry by policemen during Kanu’s trial.
It took the intervention of some journalists covering the event to rescue the activist from his attackers, who arrived at the scene in vehicles.
Some thugs on January 19, 2022, similarly attacked Sowore, supporters of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and some journalists at the Federal High Court, Abuja where Kanu was being tried.
The hoodlums were used by the police to infiltrate IPOB supporters, it was alleged.