The police on Friday failed to present Omoyele Sowore before a chief magistrate hearing matters around his illegal detention.

The Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, which has held the Sahara Reporters publisher and other activists since January 1, failed to present Mr. Sowore as ordered by Wuse Zone 2 Chief Magistrate’s Court hearing his bail application on bogus charges of unlawful assembly and breach of coronavirus safety guidelines.

Peoples Gazette in a conversation with Mr. Sowore’s associates was informed that the police gave lack of vehicles as the reason the defendants were not in court as scheduled. A police source in Abuja told the Gazette in a separate interaction that some ‘technical issues’ were responsible.

Mr. Sowore had initially been remanded at Kuje correctional facility before he was moved upon request to the FCIID headquarters purportedly for better treatment and medical attention. 

The activists were arrested on January 1 for staging a peaceful demonstration against bad governance and rising economic hardship in the country. Those who attended the crossover demonstration were about to disperse the scene when police officers, working with secret agents, stormed the venue and arrested some activists while inflicting serious physical injuries on others.

The detention has been roundly condemned as marking yet another brutal suppression of fundamental rights by the Buhari administration.

The government has denied involvement in the arrest, saying law enforcement agencies have independence to prosecute anyone found to have violated the law.