Frontline activist and politician, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, has dragged the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, before the Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged violation of his fundamental human rights.
In the suit, Sowore, a former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), accused the police of arbitrarily arresting and detaining him without a valid court order.
Also joined as respondents are the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the Nigeria Police Force and the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory.
In an affidavit he personally deposed to, Sowore said he was arrested on October 23, 2025, within the court premises over an allegation that he participated in a peaceful protest purportedly held in defiance of a subsisting court order.
He insisted that he was never served with any restraining order prior to the protest, arguing that the respondents ought to have returned to court to complain of any alleged disobedience, rather than resorting to what he described as self-help.
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“I neither violated any court order nor breached any law to warrant my arrest on October 23, 2025,” Sowore stated.
He said he was subsequently arraigned on October 24, 2025, over allegations of violating an order of the court, adding that his arrest and detention were unlawful and unconstitutional.
Sowore further claimed that despite his detention, the respondents failed to disclose any specific offence allegedly committed by him, describing the allegation of participating in a protest as insufficient to justify his continued detention.
He urged the court to intervene, arguing that the actions of the respondents were aimed at intimidating and silencing him for exercising his constitutional rights.
According to him, the alleged acts also amount to torture, contrary to the provisions of the Anti-Torture Act, which criminalises such conduct without exception.
Sowore is asking the court to award him N1.2 billion as general and exemplary damages and to order the respondents to publish a public apology to him in at least three national newspapers.
He also sought several declaratory reliefs, including a declaration that his arrest and detention violated his rights to personal liberty, freedom of movement and dignity of the human person as guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
When the matter was mentioned on Wednesday, none of the respondents was represented by counsel.
Consequently, Justice Mohammed Umar ordered that fresh hearing notices be served on all the respondents and adjourned the case until March 10 for hearing.
