Human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, and Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, have been released from Kuje Prison after four days in detention.
Announcing his release on Monday via X, Sowore wrote, “Happening Now: Leaving Kuje Prison in Abuja after being detained there illegally for four days. #FreeNnamdiKanuNow.”
He was detained last week following his appearance at the Kuje Magistrate Court.
On Friday, a Magistrate Court sitting in Kuje, Abuja, granted bail to the human rights activist, alongside Ejimakor, Prince Emmanuel Kanu (Nnamdi Kanu’s brother), and ten others arrested during the FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest in the Federal Capital Territory.
The court, presided over by Magistrate Abubakar Umar Sai’id, issued the bail order after the defendants were arraigned on charges of unlawful assembly and disturbance of public peace.
Traumatic Experience
Each was granted ₦500,000 bail, with two sureties residing in the FCT, valid identification, a three-year tax clearance, and submission of their passports.
Following their release on Monday, Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer described his detention experience as traumatic and inhumane, condemning the police for excessive use of force during and after the protest.
The experience was traumatic for me, for my colleagues, for everybody. People cooperating with the police were shoved, beaten, and some of them sustained injuries. Tear gas canisters were deployed directly at most of us. Two had an impact on me.
In fact, if we didn’t have strong lungs, some of us would have given up the ghost on the spot. I don’t think that type of brutality has a place in a well-ordered modern society, he said.
Ejimakor criticised the police for what he called unlawful and unnecessary brutality, adding that officers continued to deploy tear gas even after the protesters were under control.
Even at the police headquarters, CID, Garki, they deployed several canisters of tear gas just to get us into vehicles. You didn’t need to do that because we were already under your control. It’s unlawful. It’s brigandage, and it is executive rascality in high places, he said.
Clarifying the motive of the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest, Ejimakor said the demonstration was directed at the presidency, not the judiciary.
If the presidency or the attorney general withdraws the case, the court will have nothing to try. Our protest was to urge President Tinubu to end Kanu’s unjust prosecution, he explained.
Unnecessary, Premeditated
Sowore’s counsel, Temitope Temokun, who appeared on Channels Television’s Inside Sources, alleged that despite fulfilling all bail conditions within 30 minutes of the ruling, police officers reportedly took Sowore forcefully away from the court premises to Kuje Prison.
Temokun, who said he also appeared in court, described the incident as unnecessary and premeditated, alleging that over ten armed policemen assaulted those attempting to film the scene.
The lawyer further claimed the police lacked proper authorisation to transfer Sowore to Kuje Prison, adding that the activist’s detention was illegal and poorly disguised as a remand process.
The Police had charged Ejimakor, Emmanuel Kanu, and 10 others with a two-count offence of inciting public disturbance and breach of peace, following a protest held on Monday in the nation’s capital.
According to the charge sheet, the suspects allegedly obstructed traffic flow, denied citizens their right to free movement, and chanted war songs while demanding the release of Nnamdi Kanu.
Sowore had accused security operatives of launching an unprovoked attack on peaceful protesters during Monday’s #FreeNnamdiKanu rally in Abuja.
