Human rights activist and editor of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, has raised the alarm over his arrest and brief detention by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) upon his arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Sunday.
Mr Sowore, who arrived in Nigeria after a months-long visit to the United States of America where his family resides, announced his arrest and subsequent release by immigration officials in two separate posts on day X within an hour.
According to him, Nigerian Immigration Service officers said they detained him on orders.
“DETAINED BY @NigerianImmigration, my international passport was confiscated.
“I had just arrived in Nigeria from the United States at the MMIA in Lagos, and upon arriving at Nigerian Immigration, they confiscated my passport and told me they had orders to detain me,” he wrote.
Facade of the MMIA, Lagos
Less than an hour later, Mr Sowore posted on X that he had been released.
“I have just been released by the Nigerian immigration office after a brief detention and have had my passport returned to me. #RevolutionNow,” Sowore wrote.
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However, when PREMIUM TIMES contacted NIS spokesperson Kenneth Udo on Sunday, he said Sowore was not arrested except for passing through routine immigration check.
This newspaper has learnt that their flight left Washington Dulles International Airport at 6.14am EDT and arrived in Lagos at around 9.43am Nigerian time on Sunday.
Mr Sowore, a two-time presidential candidate, arrived in Nigeria about three days after Sahara Reporters raised the alarm in a report that the State Security Service (SSS) was plotting to arrest him.
The Sahara Reporters report, citing a leaked SSS memo, said the security agency was plotting to arrest him for his role in the #EndBadGoverbance protest in August.
Since the 10-day protest that began on August 1, the Nigerian government has cracked down on the protest organizers and many others linked to it.
More than 1,000 people, including minors, bystanders and those who shared protest-related posts on social media platforms, were arrested in connection with the protest last month, with the government charging them with serious crimes including treason and terrorism.
Ten of them, arrested in Abuja, Kaduna and elsewhere, face charges of collaborating with a British socialist, Andrew Wynne, to overthrow the government of President Bola Tinubu and declare war on Nigeria.
President Tinubu
“This is not unexpected as I have always known this is part of a broader campaign by the fascist @officialAbat regime against dissent and their fear of the upcoming uprising #FearlessINOctober,” Sowore previously wrote in his first post announcing his arrest on X.
“Should this turn into another long and protracted detention, I urge our citizens to ensure that TYRANY is ended by ALL acceptable and necessary means by participating in the series of direct actions planned for October 1 and beyond. #EndBadGovernaceInNigerianow #RevolutionNow.”
Mr. Sowore is not new to arrests and detentions by the Nigerian police and the SSS over protests and other forms of activism.
In 2019, SSS agents arrested Mr. Sowore at his Lagos home in Gestapo style over his call for the #RevolutionNow protest.
He was immediately transferred to Abuja, where he remained in detention for months despite a series of court orders granting him bail.
He was prosecuted by the administration of then President Muhammadu Buhari on charges of felony treason for over four years.
The prosecution rambled on in court throughout the trial, which featured no witnesses, until the new Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, ended the trial by dropping the charges earlier this year.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi (PHOTO CREDIT: @naptipnigeria)
Last month, the SSS arrested and detained multi-award-winning investigative journalist, Adejuwon Soyinka, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos upon his arrival from the United Kingdom.
He was released after more than six hours of detention.
The SSS would later attribute the arrest of the Nigerian journalist to a “possible mistaken identity.”
