Nigerian activist and opposition figure Omoyele Sowore claims police assaulted and arrested the lead lawyer and a brother of separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu during a demonstration in Abuja yesterday. The protest called for the immediate release of Nnamdi Kanu who was extradited to Nigeria in 2021 and was detained for treason and terrorism offenses.
The right to peaceful protest is protected by the Nigerian Constitution, but security forces have a documented history of cracking down on demonstrations which they claimed are politically motivated and could be hijacked by hoodlums.
This particular protest centered on Kanu, whose legal team recently requested temporary release for his medical treatment, which Dawn Herald reported the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) countered by declaring his health condition “not life-threatening”.
Sowore and the demonstrators assert they were peacefully exercising their right to protest, framing the police action as an “unprovoked attack” aimed at silencing the protest against the handling of Kanu’s case.
Ever since the Buhari administration formally proscribed IPOB as a terrorist group on September 20, 2017, the security agencies have been relentless in justifying the aggressive dispersal of protesters on the grounds of ‘national security protection’ and the need to prevent public disorder.
At the time this report was published, the police are yet to publicly respond to the allegations of assault and unlawful arrest.
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