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Police Re-Arrest Sowore Moments After Court Grants Bail

Published by admin on October 24th, 2025.

Police Re-Arrest Sowore Moments After Court Grants Bail

In a dramatic turn of events, human rights activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore was reportedly assaulted and re-arrested by police officers outside the Kuje Magistrate Court shortly after being granted bail, according to News360 Nigeria.

Eyewitnesses said the confrontation occurred just minutes after Magistrate Abubakar Umar Sai’id approved bail for Sowore and 13 others arrested during the recent #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest in Abuja.

While his lawyers were completing bail formalities, officers allegedly led by CSP Ilyasu Barau, head of the Anti-Vice Unit under the FCT Command’s DC-CID, descended on Sowore, punching and dragging him into a waiting police van.

Witnesses described the scene as chaotic. “They manhandled him badly,” one observer said. “The officer in charge punched him several times before forcing him into the vehicle.”

According to reports, the police did not provide any official explanation for the re-arrest. Lawyers at the scene claimed the officers refused to show a remand order, insisting instead that Sowore was being taken away “under a secret directive.”

Earlier that day, Sowore, along with 13 others—including Aloy Ejimakor, counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, and Prince Emmanuel Kanu, Nnamdi Kanu’s brother—had been arraigned on charges of unlawful assembly and disturbance of public peace before being granted bail.

The incident has sparked widespread outrage among human rights advocates, who described the re-arrest as a blatant disregard for the rule of law and a direct challenge to judicial authority.