The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have condemned what they describe as the “shameful abuse of power” in the treatment of civil rights activist Omoyele Sowore by the Nigeria Police Force.
Atiku, writing on his official X handle, said Sowore’s “only offence is speaking out against injustice, nepotism, and misrule,” alleging that he was attacked at dawn, beaten, had his arm broken, and sprayed with chemicals by policemen acting on petitions from the Inspector-General of Police’s own office.
“This is personal vendetta, not policing,” Atiku declared, citing Police Regulation 367, which forbids officers from instituting legal proceedings for personal interest, adding, “The IGP cannot be a complainant and still deploy the force to carry out his grievance.”
According to a post on Sowore’s own X account, at 6am a team of nine officers, including eight heavily armed personnel, from the IGP Monitoring Unit forcibly entered his cell at the Force Intelligence Department in Abuja, assaulted him when he requested to see the charges and inform his lawyers, and broke his arm before transferring him to another facility.
In a strongly worded statement, the NLC described the frequent arrest and long detention spells of Sowore as “unacceptable,” warning that silence in the face of such repression is complicity and that “no journalist, no trade unionist, no activist, and no ordinary citizen is safe tomorrow” if this continues.
“We cannot allow Nigeria to slide back into the dark days of dictatorship, where fear replaces freedom and dissent is met with brute force,” the Congress said, stressing that freedom of speech and association are inalienable rights guaranteed by the constitution.
NLC President Joe Ajaero demanded the “immediate and unconditional release” of Sowore, an end to the harassment of activists, and full adherence to the rule of law.
He warned that such acts “soil the image of the government” both at home and internationally and urged leaders to respect rights “unconditionally, not when it suits.”
The Congress affirmed its solidarity with “all victims of repression” and reaffirmed its commitment to defending the rights of the working class and the oppressed.
“Nigeria should not descend into a police state,” Ajaero concluded, insisting that “strengthened justice and democracy is good for all.”
