Magistrate Court sitting in Abuja has adjourned the case filed against Omoyele Sowore, activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, and four others till Friday, January 8.
The presiding Magistrate, Mabel Segun-Bello, ordered that the activists be moved from the Kuje Correctional Centre to the Force Criminal Investigation Department located at Area 10 in Abuja.
It would be recalled that Sowore and four other activists were arrested on new year’s eve for holding a protest tagged “Cross Over With Protest” to put an end to bad governance in the country.
The activist, Juwon Sanyaolu, Peter Williams, Emmanuel Bulus, and Damilare Adenola, were on Monday ordered to be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre by a Magistrates’ Court in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja pending the consideration of their bail applications on Tuesday (today).
They were charged with unlawful assembly, criminal conspiracy and inciting public disturbance after spending four days in detention.
Read Also: Sowore, Others Arrested During ‘Crossover Protest’ In Abuja
Although, they all pleaded not guilty to the charges, the prosecution alleged that the defendants were arrested on New Year’s eve with placards calling for a violent revolution against President Muhammadu Buhari.
Many Nigerians have criticised the continued detention of the activists amid breach of their fundamental human rights.
Read Also: Bail Application: Omoyele Sowore Arrives Court In Handcuffs (Video)
Reacting to the detention of the activists, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) in a statement by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, on Tuesday sent a complaint to United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
The organization demanded the release of the detained activists and a probe into their arrest and detention.
The complaint reads in part;
The detention of Omoyele Sowore and four other activists constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of their liberty because it does not have any legal justification. The detention also does not meet minimum international standards of due process.
The arrest continued detention and torture and ill-treatment of Sowore and four other activists solely for peacefully exercising their human rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly is a flagrant violation of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999 (as amended) and international human rights law. They are now facing bogus charges simply for exercising their human rights.
We urge the Working Group to request the Nigerian government to investigate and hold accountable all police officers and security agents suspected to be responsible for the unlawful arrest, continued detention, and torture and other ill-treatment of Sowore and four other activists.
The organization also wants the Federal Government to award Sowore and the other activists compensation “for the violations they suffered as a result of their unlawful arrest, arbitrary detention, torture, and other ill-treatment”.
