THE Nigeria police have confirmed the arrest of the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Mr Omoyele Sowore, and four other suspects charged with leading an “unlawful” gathering in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Tribune Online gathered that Sowore and four other activists were arrested at the #CrossoverWithProtest, they organised in Abuja on 31st December, 2020 and are likely to be charged to court on Monday.
Sowore and some activists had mobilised Nigerians for the planned #CrossoverWithProtest, procession to be held across the country on New Year eve, which police said the gathering at odd hours had created tension in Gudu and Lokogoma areas of the FCT.
Specifically, on Thursday, December 31, Mr Sowore, on Twitter, charged Nigerians to hold a crossover protest by picking up a candle and a placard showing their grievances against the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
When contacted on Sowore’s arrest, the Spokesperson for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Police Command, ASP Mariam Yusuf, said that he was arrested along with other four suspects “for unlawfully gathering at very odd hours, thereby causing palpable tension amongst the residents of Gudu and Lokogoma areas of the FCT.”
She explained that the arrest of five suspects were made “in a swift response to a distress call received from some tensed residents on 1st January,2021 at about 0030hrs(12:30am) of an unusual gathering and movement by a group of persons along Gudu-Lokogoma axis.”
The PPRO who said that a discret investigation into the matter as ordered by the Commissioner of Police, CP Bala Ciroma was already in progress assured the public that the the suspects would be arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction.
Reports had indicated that some of the protesters who escaped arrest confirmed that Mr Sowore was whisked away in one of the seven vans of the Nigerian police mobilised to the protest ground at Gudu junction in Abuja.
It was gathered that the former presidential candidate was taken to Abattoir police station in Logokoma, Abuja where he is currently being detained alongside others.
Sowore was similarly arrested by the current administration and was detained for over 100 days in 2019 for calling for a #RevolutionNowProtest.
