The 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress(AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has described the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) as an “irresponsible organisation” that routinely takes the law into its own hands, following his release from detention after meeting his bail conditions on Monday.
Speaking shortly after regaining freedom alongside 12 others, including Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, and Kanu’s brother, Emmanuel, Sowore accused the police of acting outside their constitutional mandate by enforcing a court order in which they had vested interest.
“If a court gives an order and there’s a contravention, you go back to the same court to complain to the judge. It’s not the job of the police to enforce a court order that it has an interest in,” Sowore said.
“Even if they don’t have interest, the right thing is still to go back to court. The police, being an irresponsible organisation in Nigeria, took the law into its own hands,” he added.
The activist maintained that neither he nor others were served with any restraining order before their arrest, accusing the police of impunity and disregard for due process.
“I can guarantee you that those court orders were never served on us. If you check the schedule, it says serve them by Friday. No order was served,” he insisted.
“Even if it was, our courts understand there are boundaries you cannot cross when it comes to fundamental human rights.”
Addressing reports that his prolonged detention was linked to his description of the Inspector General of Police as “useless,” Sowore defended the remark as a justified critique of a failed system.
“Was I wrong? The justice system itself is useless when you see what happened — people beaten, brutalised, denied access to lawyers,” he said.
“This is not new. There have been countless police attacks on me since 1992. Ironically, some of the same officers who brutalised me in the past recently had to fight for their retirement benefits.”
Sowore said the recurring persecution by the police would not deter him from his activism.
“Those attacking us today will meet their Waterloo soon. But we’re not distracted. Our goal is to fix this country, not to trade words with individuals or agencies,” he stated.
He dismissed police spokespersons’ defence of the crackdown, saying they lacked understanding of their roles in a democracy.
“I cannot be bandying words with a police PRO who doesn’t know his left from his right, or with an IGP who’s no longer even a legitimate officer,” he said.
“I’ve lived under about seven presidents and several IGPs since 1992, some I even assisted while in office. So this isn’t new. Anyone doing what I do knows that your second vacation home is prison.”
Sowore also criticised President Bola Tinubu over his handling of national security and the appointment of service chiefs, referencing former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, who once proposed fencing Nigeria’s borders.
“I was the first to complain about that one who said they wanted to fence Nigeria — Musa. That one doesn’t know his left from his right,” Sowore said.
“He should have been fired if Tinubu were serious. But honestly, I don’t care what Tinubu does with his illegitimate regime.”
Reaffirming his commitment to challenge injustice and authoritarianism, Sowore warned that Nigeria was sliding deeper into repression.
“We cannot fix a country by obeying illegal orders or bowing to tyranny. Our mission remains the same — to build a just, free, and accountable Nigeria,” he said.
Sowore, who has faced repeated arrests and prosecutions since 2019 over his #RevolutionNow campaign, vowed to pursue legal redress for his latest detention, describing it as part of a broader effort to silence dissenting voices under the Tinubu administration.
