By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
The Nigeria Police Force has clarified why human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, was transferred to Kuje Prison shortly after being granted bail by a Magistrate Court in Abuja on Friday.
Sowore had been arrested on Thursday over allegations of incitement and disturbance of public peace, following his involvement in the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest on Monday, which authorities claimed defied police warnings.
He appeared in court alongside 12 others and entered a not-guilty plea to the charges. The court approved his bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties, while his legal team was still finalising the required documentation at the time of the police action.
Moments after the ruling, tension erupted outside the courtroom as police officers allegedly attacked and whisked Sowore away, sparking outrage among his supporters.
Human rights activist, Deji Adeyanju, who witnessed the scene, accused the police of using violence against Sowore despite his bail approval.
“Sowore had just been granted bail, and while we were conferring with him here, the police suddenly launched an attack. More than 50 officers violently descended on him and took him away by force. We don’t even know where they have taken him,” Adeyanju told journalists in Abuja.
According to him, the lead officer briefly displayed what he claimed to be a remand order but refused to let Sowore’s lawyers examine it.
“The officer flashed the document, and when we insisted on reviewing it, he pocketed it and ordered that they must go. When we asked where they were taking him, he said Kuje Prison. We demanded to see the remand order as endorsed by the court, but he refused,” Adeyanju said.
He further alleged that the officers accused Sowore of insulting the Inspector General of Police, saying, “Because Sowore called the IG useless, they must deal with him.”
Adeyanju claimed the officers tore Sowore’s clothes during the scuffle and dragged him out of the premises while his lawyers were still completing the bail process.
In response to the controversy, the Force Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, took to X (formerly Twitter) to defend the police’s actions, insisting that they acted lawfully.
Hundeyin explained that the police were following due process, as the court’s remand order directed that Sowore be held in a correctional facility pending the fulfilment of his bail conditions.
“Except we want to be mischievous, we all know that once court grants a suspect bail, it comes with the caveat that until the bail conditions are met, the suspect remains in custody.
“Where it is clearly spelt out on the remand warrant that the suspect be remanded in a correctional facility, not police custody, it is the duty of the police to hand over the suspect to the Nigeria Correctional Service, who would then process his bail conditions.
“This has always been the practice. Why should this be different? Also, as law enforcement officers, we are empowered by law to employ commensurate force to get our mandate achieved,” he wrote, attaching a copy of the remand warrant to his post.