Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar has slammed the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and the Nigeria Police team over the arrest and detention of Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters.
In a post shared on X, Atiku, a two-time presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described Sowore’s arrest and detention by the IGP Monitoring as “a shameful abuse of power.”
He said, “It is wrong, unlawful, and must be condemned by all who believe in justice.
“Sowore’s only offence is speaking out against injustice, nepotism, and misrule. For that, he was reportedly attacked at dawn, beaten, had his arm broken, and sprayed with chemicals by policemen acting on petitions from the IGP’s own office,” Atiku wrote on X.
Recall that Sowore had on Wednesday honoured an invitation by the IGP’s monitoring over allegations of “forgery and inciting disturbance.”
He has since remained in detention at the Force Headquarters Abuja.
In his post, Atiku further described Sowore’s arrest as a personal vendetta and not in any form an act of policing.
“This is personal vendetta, not policing. Even the Nigeria Police Regulation forbids this. Regulation 367 states:
“No police officer shall institute any legal proceeding in his own personal interest or in connection with matters arising out of his public duties.
“The IGP cannot be a complainant and still deploy the force to carry out his grievance. This is not about Sowore alone, it is an attack on every Nigerian who dares to speak truth to power.
“This must stop. And Sowore should be released immediately, and unconditionally, too,” he stated.