{"id":125354,"date":"2026-02-02T10:11:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T09:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=125354"},"modified":"2026-02-02T10:11:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T09:11:54","slug":"sowore-demands-release-of-detained-nigerians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/sowore-demands-release-of-detained-nigerians\/","title":{"rendered":"Sowore Demands Release of Detained Nigerians\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Oscar Okhifo<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Human rights activist and 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore has called on the Department of State Services (DSS) to immediately release citizens held for over four years without trial.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The detainees according to Sowore were arrested in 2021 while travelling to Abuja for a court appearance in the Nnamdi Kanu case.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIf truly we have transitioned from military rule to democracy, why are citizens illegally arrested and detained sine die without any court order?\u201d Sowore asked in a statement on his Facebook page.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He alleged that the individuals were arrested by DSS operatives in Lokoja, Kogi State, and have been held at the Wawa Barracks detention facility without charge or trial.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cTheir only offence was travelling to Abuja to attend a court appearance in the case of Nnamdi Kanu,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the outspoken critic, the detainees, mostly from Ebonyi State, have remained in custody for more than four years without being charged.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He listed those detained as Wisdom Ezike, Kenneth Ojima, Chinedu Nwoba, Igwe Sampson, David Ogbonnaya, Aja Joseph, Barrister Awoke, Chinoso Oyibe, Eze Joseph, Okezie Fortune, and two drivers, including one identified as Ikechukwu.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cOne could also ask why the South East, especially the families of the victims, have remained so quiet over the years,\u201d Sowore stated.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the detainees, compensation for their prolonged detention, accountability for officers allegedly responsible, and the closure of Wawa Barracks and any other alleged secret detention facilities.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">As of the time of filing this report, the DSS had not responded to the allegations.<\/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 Human rights activist and 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore has called on the Department of State Services (DSS) to immediately release&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":77665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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