{"id":123632,"date":"2025-11-06T07:22:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T06:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=123632"},"modified":"2025-11-06T07:22:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T06:22:56","slug":"judge-bars-lagos-police-from-declaring-sowore-wanted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/judge-bars-lagos-police-from-declaring-sowore-wanted\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Bars Lagos Police From Declaring Sowore Wanted"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Oscar Okhifo<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Federal High Court in Lagos has issued an interim order restraining the Lagos State Police Command and its Commissioner of Police from arresting, harassing or intimidating Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Justice Musa Kakaki granted the protection order on Wednesday after considering an application filed by Sowore to enforce his fundamental rights.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the ruling, the court directed the respondents, particularly the Lagos Commissioner of Police to immediately halt any attempt to \u201charass, intimidate, threaten with arrest, or declare the applicant wanted pending the determination of the substantive suit.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sowore, in affidavits submitted to the court, stated that he had not received any formal police invitation or warrant before being declared wanted by Commissioner Moshood Jimoh.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He described the police action as unlawful and a violation of his constitutional rights to dignity, personal liberty and freedom of movement.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to him, the declaration had also \u201cmaliciously\u201d damaged his reputation as a journalist, activist and former presidential candidate, a move he alleged was aimed at silencing him.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThat unless restrained urgently by this honourable court, the respondents will continue to threaten and harass me everywhere I go,\u201d he stated in his affidavit of urgency.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cI am not aware of any offence committed by me, and I was never invited by the police before the declaration made on November 3, 2025.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The controversy followed a statement by Commissioner Jimoh on Monday, during a media briefing in the Oworonshoki area of Lagos, where he declared Sowore wanted for allegedly inciting public unrest over the demolition of buildings in the area.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The police chief accused Sowore of provoking residents and attempting to disrupt public peace, vowing to arrest and prosecute him.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The demolitions, which have rendered dozens of families homeless in Oworonshoki,\u00a0 sparked public outcry, with residents accusing the state government of high-handedness and lack of due process. Sowore was said to have visited the community to document the grievances of affected residents before the police declaration.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana SAN, also described the demolitions as unlawful.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0He accused the Lagos state government of disobeying\u00a0 court order that was appropriately served on relevant authorities.\u00a0 He threatened to go to court.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, the court\u2019s decision\u00a0 has now legally restrains the police from taking further action against Sowore until the case is fully heard and determined.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Reacting to the ruling, Sowore expressed satisfaction, saying it reaffirmed his faith in the judiciary despite public skepticism.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cMany people say they don\u2019t trust the judiciary, but I believe that trust in our courts depends on citizens who stand up and insist that justice must be done,\u201d he told reporters after the ruling.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cMy activism has always been about justice and freedom for every Nigerian, regardless of ethnicity, gender or religion.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8221; I thank the court for its courage in granting this important order.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It&#8217;s left to be seen if the Police will obey or not. History is replete with several disobedience to valid court orders. The Police and other state actors are very guilty if this abberant behavior.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Oscar Okhifo The Federal High Court in Lagos has issued an interim order restraining the Lagos State Police Command and its Commissioner of Police from arresting, harassing or intimidating&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":123633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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