Police detain Sowore as activist rejects bail over stringent conditions

Omoyele Sowore, human rights activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), was detained on Monday by the Nigerian police in Abuja after refusing to accept stringent bail conditions imposed on him after interrogation.

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Mr Sowore Monday night announced on social media that the police were holding him in custody until further notice, following his “refusal to accept their illegal bail condition”.

He is being detained at the Abattoir police station in Guzape, Abuja, which was formerly used by the now defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) notorious for the inhuman activities of its officers.

The police, on Monday, granted Mr Sowore bail after interrogating him at the Force Intelligence Department (FID) complex in Abuja.

But the activist described the bail conditions, including the provision of a level 17 civil servant as a surety and surrendering his passport to the police, as “illegal”.

He said he rejected the bail in a post on social media on Monday, even after the conditions were further reviewed.

“The PoliceNG team assigned to my case has informed me that the DIG of FID, Dasuki Galandachi, has reevaluated my bail conditions, necessitating the production of a level 16 civil servant and the surrender of my international passport, a condition I have declined outright. I refuse to participate in any arrangement that undermines my personal integrity,” he posted on Facebook.

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Mr Sowore had honoured an invitation by the police over his exposé on police officers allegedly extorting motorists along Ikeja in Lagos State.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that Mr Sowore arrived at the FID complex in Abuja at exactly 10 a.m. on Monday amid heavy security presence.

The activist was invited for questioning by the police over a video clip he uploaded on social media alleging extortion by officers at a checkpoint in Lagos.

A police invitation letter dated 23 January stated that Mr Sowore was under investigation for alleged offences, including resisting and obstructing public officers, disobedience to lawful orders, and cyberstalking.

The letter, signed by a senior police officer, directed him to report for an interview with the Deputy Inspector General of Police at Room 212, 2nd Floor, FID Complex, Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja, on Monday at 10 a.m.

Falana intervenes

Meanwhile, Mr Sowore’s lawyer, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, backed Sowore’s stance, citing a Court of Appeal judgement in Dasuki v. Director-General of SSS.

Mr Falana stated on Monday in a letter to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police in charge of the FID such conditions had previously been declared illegal.

While he thanked the DIG “for reducing the bail condition” to a surety of level 16, Mr Falana said “such bail condition has been declared illegal by the Court of Appeal in the case of Dasuki V. Director-General of SSS.”

He quoted a judge of the Court of Appeal, Stephen Adah, as saying in the case with citation, C[2020]10 NWLR PT.1731 PG. 136-143: “Let me quickly say that of concern it is to us that as a court we must be ready and sensitive enough not to allow or do anything that will run foul of the law. The issue of involving civil servants or Public Officers in the Public Service of the Federation and the State in bail of people accused of criminal offences has never been the practice in Nigeria or any part of the civilized world.

“It was an oversight on our part to allow it in. Our Civil and Public Service Rules do not have any room for it. Expecting a Level 16 Servant to own property worth N100,000,000, will be running counter to the Public Service Rules and by extension the war against corruption.”

“It is in this respect that I will act ex debito justitiae to ensure that the aspect of involving serving Public Servant below the status of Level 16 Officer in either the state or Public Service of the Federation or any of its agencies be removed and I so order.”