The Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled October 29 for the hearing of the suit filed by the police against Omoyele Sowore and other conveners of the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest held on Monday.
The case, initially set for Monday to hear the respondents’ ex parte motion seeking to vacate an interim court order, was postponed.
The hearing was delayed due to the protest on the same day, which disrupted court activities at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Justice Mohammed Umar had previously issued an interim order restraining Sowore and others from protesting in certain sensitive areas in Abuja, including around Aso Rock Villa, the National Assembly, Force Headquarters, Court of Appeal, Eagle Square, and Shehu Shagari Way, pending the outcome of the motion.
The judge also ordered an abridgment of time for the respondents to respond to the application to set aside the ex parte order by October 20, before adjourning the motion hearing to the same date.
This order followed an ex parte motion filed on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by police counsel Wisdom Madaki. In the motion (FHC/ABJ/CS/2202/2025), the Police Force named Sowore, Sahara Reporters Ltd, and Sahara Reporters’ Media Foundation as the first to third respondents.
The suit also included the Take It Back Movement (TIB), other organisations or individuals acting on their behalf, and unknown persons as fourth and fifth respondents.
An affidavit supporting the motion, sworn by Bassey Ibithan, a police officer from the Directorate of Legal Services at Force Headquarters, Abuja, stated that if the order was not granted, the protest could threaten national security. Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters and a 2019 and 2023 presidential candidate for the African Action Congress (ACC), had organised the protest demanding the release of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Several individuals, including Kanu’s special counsel Aloy Ejimakor, were arrested during the protest and are scheduled for arraignment on October 24 at Kuje Magistrate Court in Abuja. Earlier on Thursday, Sowore was taken from the Federal High Court by armed policemen shortly after appearing for Kanu’s case.
Security operatives insisted Sowore accompany them to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command, citing an order from the Commissioner of Police. Despite Sowore’s requests for clarification and for his lawyer to accompany him, he was taken away in a police van.
