The Nigeria Police Force has reissued a corrected invitation to #TakeBackNigeria convener, Omoyele Sowore, requesting him to appear for questioning on Wednesday (today).
The new invitation, dated 5 August and addressed to Mr Sowore through his lawyer, Tope Temokun, followed his (Sowore) earlier refusal to honour a flawed summons.
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The police appear to have dropped the allegation of “inciting disturbance” contained in the initial invitation letter, following Mr Sowore’s critical review pointing out flaws in it. Instead of that, the police now accuse him in their subsequent letters of “criminal defamation” in addition to “forgery”, which was one of the two initial allegations.
Mr Sowore had demanded a proper reissue, including a legitimate legal basis and prior disclosure of the petition.
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In the letter seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the police—through the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit at Force Headquarters—acknowledged receipt of Mr Temokun’s protest letter and agreed to reschedule the interview for 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
The police also stated that a copy of the petition would be made available to Mr Sowore physically when he honours the invitation, which is in line with standard procedure.
“Please counsel your client to be properly guided,” the police warned in the closing paragraph of the letter.
Mr Sowore subsequently confirmed via his Facebook page that he would honour the invitation, having received a properly dated and revised letter.
He also called on “freedom fighters, citizens of conscience, and voices of resistance” to accompany him to the Force Headquarters in Abuja for the meeting.
“IGP Monitoring Unit” Summons Tomorrow at 11AM. The IGP Monitoring Unit has scheduled my interview for tomorrow at 11:00 AM, yet they have refused to provide a copy of the purported petition against me. It is now clear that their intention is to conceal the sinister plan of the illegal IGP and continue operating in darkness.
“Despite this, I will honour the invitation — but not alone. I will be going with a full house. To all our revolutionary comrades, as always, we move together.
“Let every freedom fighter, every citizen of conscience, every voice of resistance assemble early tomorrow at the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters in Abuja. #RevolutionNow #EgbetokunMustGo,” he wrote.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Sowore had rejected an earlier police summons, which cited a non-existent legal provision—Section 53(2) of the ACIA 2025—and charged him with “inciting disturbance.”
He accused the police of fabricating charges and altering the content of their invitations.
“They are engaging in trial and error. First, they fabricated offences and cited a fake law, and now they’re quietly changing the narrative,” he wrote on Tuesday afternoon.
Background
The invitation by the police followed Mr Sowore’s involvement in a protest by retired police officers at the Force Headquarters on 21 July. The retirees demanded removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme and requested improved welfare benefits.
READ ALSO: Police re-invite Sowore to appear today, activist sets conditions for compliance
During the demonstration, Mr Sowore alleged that an agent of the police stole his Ray-Ban Meta AI smart glasses. He later identified the person as Aku Victor Chiemere, said to be a cameraman attached to the office of the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
After an initial delay, Mr Sowore filed a theft complaint at the Asokoro Police Division when a petition submitted to the Force Criminal Investigation Department was redirected.
As of press time, the police have not publicly responded to the theft allegation.
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