Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has dragged the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, before the Federal High Court in Abuja, over alleged violations of his fundamental human rights.
In the suit, Sowore accused the police authorities of arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention, insisting that his rights as guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution were flagrantly breached.
Also joined as respondents in the suit are the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to an affidavit personally sworn to by Sowore, he was arrested on October 23, 2025, within the vicinity of the court premises, following allegations that he participated in a peaceful protest in defiance of a subsisting court order.
Sowore, however, maintained that no restraining order was ever served on him prior to the protest, arguing that the respondents acted outside the law by resorting to what he described as “self-help” instead of approaching the court.
He stated that rather than reporting any alleged disobedience to the court, security agents arrested him and other activists without lawful justification.
Sowore further disclosed that he was arraigned on October 24, 2025, over claims that he violated a court order, allegations he described as baseless and unsupported by evidence.
He insisted that he neither violated any court directive nor committed any offence known to Nigerian law to warrant his arrest and detention.
According to him, the respondents failed to define any specific crime allegedly committed by him, stressing that participation in a peaceful protest alone could not justify his detention.
Sowore alleged that the actions of the respondents were deliberate attempts to intimidate and silence him for exercising his constitutional rights.
He further accused the authorities of acts amounting to torture, which he said is prohibited under the Anti-Torture Act, noting that the law recognizes no justification or exception for such conduct.
In the suit, Sowore urged the court to intervene, insisting that it has the constitutional mandate to protect citizens whose fundamental rights have been violated.
As part of the reliefs sought, Sowore is demanding an aggregate sum of N1.2 billion as general and exemplary damages, alongside a public apology to be published in at least three national newspapers.
He is also asking the court to declare his arrest, harassment, and detention as illegal, unlawful, oppressive, and a violation of his rights to personal liberty, freedom of movement, and dignity of the human person, as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
When the matter came up for mention on Wednesday, none of the respondents was represented by counsel.
Consequently, Justice Mohammed Umar ordered that fresh hearing notices be served on all respondents and adjourned the case to March 10 for hearing.
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