Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has slammed the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) over the detention and alleged assault on Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters.
On Wednesday, Sowore arrived at the NPF headquarters in Abuja to honour an invitation from the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Monitoring Unit over a petition.
The activist arrived at the force headquarters with his lawyers and some activists, including members of the ‘Take It Back Movement’.
However, he was taken into custody and detained till now since Wednesday.
On Thursday, he accused the police of breaking his arm while in detention.
Reacting to the development in a post via his X page, Abubakar described Sowore’s handling by the IGP monitoring team as a “shameful abuse of power.”
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the incident must be condemned by anyone who believes in justice.
“The treatment of Omoyele Sowore by the IGP Monitoring Team is a shameful abuse of power. It is wrong, unlawful, and must be condemned by all who believe in justice,” the post reads.
“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.
“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.”
Abubakar said it was wrong for Kayode Egbetokun, the IGP, to act as “both a complainant and the person deploying police personnel to enforce his own grievance”.
