The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has released activist Omoyele Sowore after spending three days in detention.
The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the umbrella body of all registered political parties in Nigeria, had filed a petition against the Nigeria Police Force over the alleged assault, threat to life and unconstitutional detention of Mr. Sowore.
Sowore, who took to his verified social media handles to disclose the development yesterday night, also addressed his supporters and well-wishers live via Facebook shortly after regaining freedom.
He wrote: “Nigeria Police Force has capitulated to the demands of the revolutionary movt, I have been released from unjust, illegal & unwarranted detention. However, it is nothing to celebrate, but thank u for not giving up!#RevolutionNow.”
LEADERSHIP reports that the commissioner of police in charge of the Special Intervention Squad, CP Abayomi Shogunle, had explained the circumstances surrounding the detention of the human rights activist and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections.
Speaking during a press briefing in Abuja on Friday while addressing protesters demanding Sowore’s release, Shogunle stated that the activist was being held in connection with two separate petitions filed against him.
“The two petitions against Omoyele Sowore were shown to him right in my presence,” the CP said in a video streamed by Sowore’s SaharaReporters.
“One bordered on forgery of a police document, which he published online, and we all know the position of the law. It is your duty to provide a source of how you came about the forged document. The second petition has to do with cyberbullying.”
Shogunle disclosed that Sowore had refused to make a statement during interrogation, even in the presence of his legal counsel.
In a letter addressed to the Inspector General of Police dated August 8, 2025, IPAC strongly condemned what it described as a “premeditated action” by police officers, claiming that Sowore was brutalised while in custody after honoring an invitation from the police.
“Images from the alleged assault on his person suggest a premeditated action by your men to either maim and/or kill him in detention,” the petition read. The letter was jointly signed by IPAC national chairman, Dr. Yusuf Dantalle, and national secretary, Barr. Maxwell Mgbudem.
Sowore, a prominent critic of government policies and former presidential aspirant, was reportedly detained without a court order, a move IPAC says violates the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
The petition stated, “That the conduct of your officers and men is a violation of his fundamental human rights… The continuous act of holding him without a lawful order of court is antithetical and a reminder of the dark days of military regimes which should not have a place in our democracy.”
IPAC demanded Sowore’s immediate release and called for the dismissal and prosecution of the officers involved in the alleged assault and unlawful detention.
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has also faulted Sowore’s detention.
Obi said Omoyele’s detention shortly after he voluntarily honoured an invitation by the police was a miscarriage of justice and an abuse of state power.
“From all indications, no urgency or criminal flight risk warranted such high-handed treatment.
“To detain a citizen who came of his own accord, without the public disclosure of clear, lawful charges, is not only a miscarriage of justice but an abuse of state power,” Obi stated in a post on X on Thursday night.
According to him, the arrest, particularly under circumstances where Sowore — the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Alliance — presented himself in good faith to law enforcement, should be condemned by all who value justice and due process.
The former Anambra State governor, therefore, called on the police to immediately release Sowore or charge him formally under the law.
