Atiku Abubakar, a former PDP presidential candidate, has harshly denounced the alleged arrest and cruel treatment of publisher and activist Omoyele Sowore by Inspector-General of Police Monitoring Team agents, calling it a “shameful abuse of power.”
In a message published on his Facebook page on Thursday, Atiku said that Sowore’s only transgression was criticising “injustice, nepotism, and misrule.” He also claimed that the police’s alleged actions were more like a personal grudge than legitimate policing.
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The Nigeria Police Force was previously accused by the Sowore attorney, Tope Temokun, of treating his client inhumanely while they were in custody.
Sowore was taken into custody on Wednesday after accepting the Inspector-General of Police Monitoring Unit’s invitation.
Temokun said in a statement released on Thursday that the activist suffered physical harm as a result of being transferred from police custody to an unnamed location in the early hours of Thursday.
Atiku responded by calling the police action an abuse of authority.
“This is not policing; it is persecution. The IGP cannot be both a complainant and the force behind the arrest,” Atiku said in a statement.
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He further cited the Nigeria Police Regulation 367, Atiku reminded the authorities that “no police officer shall institute any legal proceeding in his own personal interest or in connection with matters arising out of his public duties.”
He described the incident as “an attack on every Nigerian who dares to speak truth to power,” and demanded Sowore’s immediate and unconditional release.
“This must stop,” Atiku stated.
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