Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters has been shot by a police officer in Abuja.
The female police officer reportedly fired a teargas cannister at Mr Sowore who was at the Unity Fountain in Abuja for a protest.
Details to follow…
Tag: sowore
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Sowore urges Nigerians in London to take massive protest to Buhari in UK hospital
Publisher, SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, yesterday asked Nigerians in London to occupy the London hospital where President Muhammadu Buhari would undergo a routine medical checkup.
Sowore also asked them to occupy the Abuja House in London.
Buhari yesterday departed Abuja for London, the United Kingdom, for a routine medical check-up.
He was seen off by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello; his Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari; the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu and other officials. Buhari is due back in the country during the second week of April, 2021.
Before embarking on the trip, the president had presided over a meeting of the National Security Council.
Sowore, in a tweet yesterday, described the president’s medical trip as a waste of resources.
He said: “Nigerians in UK must #occupy the hospital where sickly @mbuhari is wasting Nigeria’s resources and the Nigeria embassy as well as Abuja House in London, let Buhari return home and do a medical check in the “world-class” hospital he built since coming to power. #Buharimustgo!”
Also, the People’s Democratic Party yesterday described Buhari’s routine medical check-up abroad as a direct indictment of his government’s failure to fix Nigeria’s healthcare system.
PDP’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement, said: “While the PDP has nothing against where any person, including President Buhari, seeks his or her medical services, our party is worried that the Buhari Presidency is taking no decisive steps to fix our health care system, ostensibly because Mr President can afford overseas medical treatment at tax payers’ expense.
“The PDP is disturbed that while Mr President jets out for medical treatment in well-equipped hospitals abroad, our hospitals and medical personnel are in a very sorry situation while millions of our compatriots suffer, with many dying on daily basis from conditions that have simple medical solutions.
“It is indeed heartrending that Nigerians are suffering this huge misfortune of having this highly insensitive, incompetent and corrupt leadership of very selfish individuals who do not care about the welfare of other citizens.”
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today last night, stressed that there was no emergency for Buhari to travel to London.
Shehu said Buhari was not sick in any way, stressing that it was just a routine medical check-up just as he had done in the past.
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BREAKING: Sowore regains freedom after meeting bail conditions
The co-convener of #RevolutionNow and human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, and four others charged with criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly and inciting public disturbance have met the bail conditions imposed on them.
The Chief Magistrate, Mabel Segun-Bello, earlier admitted the activist to N20 million bail in like sum with two sureties, one of whom must be a federal civil servant not below Grade Level 12.
Sowore was also asked to physically report to the Registrar of Federal Capital Territory High Court every Monday and Friday pending the determination of the case against him.
The court also granted bail of N1 million and one surety in like sum to Peter Williams, Sanyaolu Juwon, Emmanuel Bulus and Damilare Adenola, who are standing trial alongside Sowore.
The activists regained their freedom after the verification of the claims by their sureties.
Meanwhile, Sowore thanked Nigerians for their support and show of love while in detention, just as he assured them that they would not give up until the country is finally and completely liberated.
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Amnesty International condemns arrest, asks FG to drop charges against Sowore, others
Global human rights organisation, Amnesty International has condemned the arrest of the convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, and four others.
In a series of tweets on Saturday, it called for the immediate release of the activists and demanded that the charges against them be dropped.
The group said Sowore and others were unlawfully arrested on Friday last week for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and expression.
It accused the Nigerian government of using delay tactics to frustrate the bail applications of the activists who have spent eight days in detention.
According to Amnesty, the detention is arbitrary and has shown a continued pattern of repression by the authorities.
Amnesty International is appalled by the delay tactics that the Nigerian authorities are using to frustrate the bail applications of Sowore, Juwon, Damilare, Kimrele and Peter.
— Amnesty International Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) January 9, 2021
Their arbitrary detention shows a continues pattern of repression by the Nigerian authorities. We therefore call for their immediate release and all charges against them dropped.
— Amnesty International Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) January 9, 2021
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Police fail to produce Sowore in court say no vehicle
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) was unable to produce Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore in court today because of lack of transport vehicle.
Sowore, who is being held by the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID) based on court orders, was expected to be brought before the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, which is hearing his bail application.
However, the police reportedly told the court that the defendant could not be produced in court today because there was no vehicle to bring him.
The news publisher’s medium, Sahara Reporters, lamented the development in a tweet.
Sowore was arrested alongside four protesters during a #CrossOverProtest held on New Year’s Day in Abuja.
After detention for four days, he was arraigned on three counts of criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, and attempting to incite others.
Although he was originally ordered remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre, Magistrate Taye Maibel ordered him, upon request, to be released to the FCIID pending the hearing of his bail application.
Sowore’s arrest has drawn widespread condemnation, with former US Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell warning that it could worsen the nation’s human rights records.
Scores are also protesting in Abuja to demand the release of Sowore and the four other defendants.
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Sowore, others remanded again as court adjourns ruling on bail application
A Chief Magistrate Court in Abuja has fixed January 8, for ruling on the bail application filed on behalf of Mr Omoyele Sowore and four others.
Chief Magistrate Mabel Segun-Bello fixed the date on Tuesday after listening to the application for bail moved by the lawyer to the defendants, Marshal Abubakar and the opposition by the prosecutor.
The court also ordered the defendants to be remanded at the Force CIID facility in Area 10, following complaints by Sowore that they were denied food and medical attention at the Kuje Correctional Centre.
Chief Magistrate Segun-Bello further ordered the Police to provide the third defendant, Damilare Adenola who is a law student of the University of Abuja, with internet facilities and writing materials to enable him join his classmates who resumed online classes on January 5.
Sowore and the four others were arraigned on January 4, on three counts of criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, and inciting public disturbance but they all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
They were arrested by the police on New Year’s Eve during a candlelight procession organised by Sowore against bad governance.
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Photo: Sowore arrives court in handcuffs
Omoyele Sowore has arrived at the Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja wearing handcuffs.
The court presided over by Chief Magistrate Mabel Segun-Bello is expected to hear the bail application filed on Sowore’s behalf.
Sowore on Monday, January 4, was arraigned alongside four others by the Federal Government on three charges of criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, and attempting to incite others.
Although they all pleaded not guilty to the charges, the prosecution alleged that the defendants were arrested on New Year’s eve with placards calling for a violent revolution against President Muhammadu Buhari.
The court then ordered that they be remanded at Kuje Correctional Centre until the formal application for their bail today.
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JUST IN: Sowore, four others sent to Kuje Prison
A Magistrate court sitting in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja has ordered the remand of Omoyele Sowore and four others at Kuje Correctional Centre.
This is pending when there formal bail application will be heard tomorrow, January 5, 2020.
We have been sent to The infamous Kuje Prison for the next 24 hours while they plot their next moves. But we are very resolute and convinced that this year will be different for the tyrant! #RevolutionNow
— Omoyele Sowore (@YeleSowore) January 4, 2021
Sowore is being arraigned alongside four others by the Federal Government on three charges of criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, and attempting to incite others.
Although they all pleaded not guilty to the charges, the prosecution alleged that the defendants were arrested on New Year’s eve with placards calling for a violent revolution against President Muhammadu Buhari.
Sowore was arrested by the police for leading a protest against bad governance on New Year’s Eve in Abuja.
Sowore had earlier before the protest charged Nigerians on Twitter to hold a crossover protest by picking up a candle and a placard showing their grievances against the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
How about a CrossOver Protest/Uprising tonight? Anyone willing to participate? Pick up a candle and a placard showing your grievances against the regime, let’s upload our short videos and photos across our SOcial Media platforms. Let’s welcome the regime to a RESOLUTE 2021!
— Omoyele Sowore (@YeleSowore) December 31, 2020
“How about a crossover protest/uprising tonight? Anyone willing to participate? Pick up a candle and a placard showing your grievances against the regime; let’s upload our short videos and photos across our social media platforms. Let’s welcome the regime to a resolute 2021!
“#CrossoverWithProtest against tyrant @mbuhari’s regime, candlelight for #LekkiMassacre; a placard for #EndBadGovernment; procession to usher in #Revolutionary 2021, a fist for victims of repression-frozen bank accounts, malicious prosecution and detention of #Endsars activists.
“#Crossoverwithprotest starts at 11.30 till 12.30 am across Nigeria, a candle, a placard and fireworks to usher in a RESOLUTE 2021 in Nigeria! Join with your friends and neighbours #EndSARS. #ObigboMassacre #LekkiMassacre #EndBadGoveranceInNigeria #BuhariTrainwreck #RevolutionNow,” Sowore tweeted on Sunday, December 31, 2020.
The protest was eventually joined by others in states including Ondo and Kaduna.
This is not the first time Sowore will be arrested. He was detained for over 100 days in 2019 for calling for a #RevolutionNowProtest.
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Falana to sue police, over arrest, torture of Sowore
Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has said the Publisher, Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore has asked him to sue the Nigerian Police for torturing and violating his fundamental human right.
Sowore was arrested along with his friends for leading a “crossover protest” in Abuja.
He accused Nigerian police of violating his human right. In view of that he instructed his lawyer, ‘Falana’ to sue the Police. Confirming this, Falana in a text message to the media, said: “Since Mr. Sowore’s fundamental right to dignity has been recklessly violated by the police we have his instructions to press for charges against all the officers who subjected him to physical and mental torture in contravention of the letter and spirit of the provisions of the Anti Torture Act of 2017.
“Mr. Sowore who was covering an event at the time of his arrest has maintained that he did not breach any of the COVID-19 regulations. He has been detained indefinitely on the basis of orders “from above.
“The police officers who arrested Mr. Omoyele Sowore at Abuja on January 31, 2020, subjected him to severe beating and left him with bruises all over his body. As if that was not enough he has been locked up in the midst of armed robbery suspects at a notorious detention facility called abattoir maintained by the disbanded Special Anti Robbery Squad in Abuja. “The physical torture to Mr. Sowore was prolonged by the refusal of the police to provide him with medical attention.
Although Mr. Sowore’s injuries are being treated by his personal physician, the police authorities have refused the application of the detainee for bail even though the alleged offence of breaching COVID-19 regulations is ‘bailable’.
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Sowore spends New Year day in police custody for organizing protest
Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, and other activists spent the wee hours of the New Year in police custody for organizing a protest in Abuja.
Sowore had before his detention, sent out a series of tweets calling on Nigerians to join him on a protest against the regime of the President Muhammadu Buhari
He had tweeted, “How about a crossover protest/uprising tonight? Anyone willing to participate? Pick up a candle and a placard showing your grievances against the regime; let’s upload our short videos and photos across our social media platforms. Let’s welcome the regime to a resolute 2021!
“#CrossoverWithProtest against tyrant @mbuhari’s regime, candlelight for #LekkiMassacre; a placard for #EndBadGovernment; procession to usher in #Revolutionary 2021, a fist for victims of repression-frozen bank accounts, malicious prosecution and detention of #Endsars activists.
“#Crossoverwithprotest starts at 11.30 till 12.30 am across Nigeria, a candle, a placard and fireworks to usher in a RESOLUTE 2021 in Nigeria! Join with your friends and neighbours #EndSARS. #ObigboMassacre #LekkiMassacre #EndBadGoveranceInNigeria #BuhariTrainwreck #RevolutionNow.”
TheNewsGuru gathered that armed policemen around midnight accosted the protesters at Gudu Junction injuring some of them in the process.
They were then taken to a police unit infamously known as ‘Abattoir’ in the Lokogoma area of the FCT.
TheNewsGuru recalls that Sowore, who was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International in 2019, was imprisoned for several months by the Buhari led administration for allegedly calling for a revolution.
Sowore’s legal representative, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), who confirmed the arrest, said he had not been able to find his client because the police had failed to reveal where he is.