BREAKING: Police Re-Arrest Sowore Outside Kuje Court Minutes After Bail, Drag Him Into Van

There was confusion on Friday at the premises of the Kuje Magistrate Court, Abuja, as operatives of the Nigeria Police Force re-arrested rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, shortly after the court granted him bail.

Eyewitnesses said the officers, led by the Investigating Police Officer, CSP Ilyasu Barau of the Anti-Vice Section under the FCT Command, descended on Sowore while his lawyers were perfecting the bail conditions. He was allegedly punched, dragged on the ground and shoved into a waiting van.

“We asked for the remand order they claimed to have, but the officer refused to show anything,” a witness said. “They kept referring to a secret remand order.”

Lawyers and other persons around were reportedly assaulted in the process.

The development came despite the ruling of Magistrate Abubakar Umar Sai’id, who earlier granted bail to Sowore, Nnamdi Kanu’s counsel Aloy Ejimakor, Kanu’s brother Prince Emmanuel Kanu and 11 others arrested during the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest in Abuja.

The defendants were arraigned on allegations of unlawful assembly and disturbance of public peace and were admitted to bail in the sum of ₦500,000 each with conditions including verified NIN, tax clearance certificate for three years and deposit of their travel passports.

Sowore had been arrested on Thursday after leaving the Federal High Court, an action that drew condemnation from civil society groups who accused authorities of weaponising law enforcement to suppress dissent.

Rights advocates say the fresh arrest despite an active bail order raises concerns about disregard for judicial authority and entrenched hostility to civil liberties in the country.