Police Deny Re-arrest of Sowore, Clarify Detention

Police Deny Re-arrest of Sowore, Clarify Detention.
Hundeyin says detention followed court’s remand warrant.
Sowore remains in custody until bail conditions are met.

The Nigeria Police Force has dismissed reports that former presidential candidate and human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, was rearrested on Friday over new charges.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, clarified that contrary to circulating media claims, Sowore was not taken into custody based on fresh allegations but was remanded in line with the court’s directive pending the fulfilment of his bail conditions.

Sowore and 13 others had earlier been granted bail by Magistrate Abubakar Umar Sai’d of the Kuje Magistrate Court following their arrest during a protest demanding the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu. The group was reportedly apprehended outside the court shortly after the bail ruling, sparking reports that the activist had been rearrested on new charges and was set to appear in court again on Monday.

However, in a statement on Friday, Hundeyin described the report as “procedurally incorrect,” explaining that no one arrested on a fresh charge can be sent directly to prison without a valid remand warrant from a competent court.

He stated, “Your story that he was arrested on a fresh charge and ‘whisked away to Kuje Prison to be arraigned on Monday’ is incorrect. A person arrested on new charges cannot be taken straight to prison without a remand warrant. He was taken to prison as instructed on the attached warrant pending when he meets his bail conditions—nothing more.”

The clarification came amid widespread concern over the treatment of Sowore, who has been a prominent voice in campaigns for justice and freedom of expression in Nigeria.