Omoyele Sowore has alleged being assaulted by police operatives inside a detention cell at the Force Intelligence Department in Abuja on Thursday morning.

This was disclosed in posts on Mr Sowore’s verified Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) accounts.

The rights activist and politician said he was attacked by operatives from the IGP Monitoring Unit, led by a deputy commissioner of police, Akin Fakorede.

“This morning at about 6 AM, a police team led by a Chief Superintendent of Police from the IGP Monitoring unit forcibly gained entry into Omoyele Sowore’s cell at the Force Intelligence Department in Abuja claiming they were taking him to court, the team of nine officers, including eight heavily armed personnel, handled Sowore roughly when he asked to see the charges and notify his lawyers, breaking his arm in the process, before taking him to another police facility,” the post said.

His legal team and associates said they had not been briefed on his whereabouts. The force spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, did not respond to a request for comments on the matter.

Mr Sowore was detained on Wednesday after honouring a police invitation regarding allegations of forgery and inciting disturbance. He arrived at the FID around 12:00 p.m. with a crowd of young supporters who held a brief protest outside the premises.

During the interrogation, Mr Sowore  declined to write a statement, demanding that the police produce the original copy of the memo he was accused of forging.

“The police were trying to compel him to submit a statement without presenting the original document he allegedly forged,” Mr Sowore’s lawyer, Abdulkareem Musa, told Peoples Gazette. “That is a clear abuse of procedure. No accused person is obliged to write a statement without seeing the evidence against them.”

The police invitation came barely two weeks after Mr Sowore’s involvement in a protest by retired police officers at the Force Headquarters in Abuja on July 21. 

The retirees had called for their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme and demanded improved welfare.

Mr Sowore had also accused a police cameraman, identified as Aku Chiemere, of stealing his Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses during the protest. 

He formally reported the alleged theft to the Asokoro Police Division after an earlier petition by his lawyer to the Force Criminal Investigation Department was redirected.