Amnesty, which made the demand in a terse statement on its Twitter handle on Saturday said that it was gravely concerned by the arrest of the human rights lawyer by the police in Abuja, saying that “The police must comply with international human rights law and standards, and immediately and unconditionally release Ayo Sogunro.”
Global human rights body, Amnesty International, has demanded the immediate and unconditional release of a Nigerian human rights lawyer, Dr. Ayo Sogunro, by the Nigeria Police Force.
Amnesty, which made the demand in a terse statement on its Twitter handle on Saturday said that it was gravely concerned by the arrest of the human rights lawyer by the police in Abuja, saying that “The police must comply with international human rights law and standards, and immediately and unconditionally release Ayo Sogunro.”
Amnesty said that Sogunro who recently returned to Nigeria for vacation was illegally picked up from his hotel room in the Garki area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Sogunro had tweeted on Friday night saying, “Five police officers stormed my hotel room while I was at work. Nigerian police arresting me for seeing a female friend in my room one hour in Nigeria.
“Still have my phone with me but using it surreptitiously typos please tag the police handles here. Detained at Garki police station. They followed me to my hotel from the airport.”
Amnesty International is gravely concerned by the arrest of human rights defender Ayo Sogunro by the police @PoliceNG in Abuja. The police must comply with international human rights law and standards, and immediately and unconditionally release Ayo Sogunro. #FreeAyoSogunro
— Amnesty International Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) June 17, 2023
Five police officers stormed my hotel room loltaxes at work
— Dr Ayo Sogunro (@ayosogunro) June 16, 2023
Nigerian police arresting me for seeing a female friend in my room one hour in Nigeria
— Dr Ayo Sogunro (@ayosogunro) June 16, 2023
Detained at Garki police station 🤣🤣🤣
— Dr Ayo Sogunro (@ayosogunro) June 16, 2023
— Dr Ayo Sogunro (@ayosogunro) June 16, 2023
Still have my phone with me but using it surreptitiously typos please tag the police handles here
— Dr Ayo Sogunro (@ayosogunro) June 16, 2023
Sogunro is a human rights advocate who had criticised the Nigerian police several times in the past.
In March, SaharaReporters reported that seven personnel of the Nigeria Police Force were captured in a video brutally assaulting a man in the middle of a road.
The 30-second clip was being circulated on Twitter by a Twitter user, Rinu Oduala (@SavvyRinu) who uploaded the clip on the micro-blogging site on March 18, and commented sarcastically on it, “The best police force in the world: The Nigerian Police.”
Sogunro had also shared the clip on Twitter, and commented, “When people still ask why #EndSARS had to happen, this is part of it.”
“The Nigerian police will beat up a person senseless for being rude and then turn round to expect public sympathy. It’s not going to happen,” said Sogunro.
The Complaint Response Unit of the police responded to Sogunro and requested information about when and where the incident happened.