Sowore addressing newsmen during the #FreeNnamdiKanu protest in Abuja
Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned to October 29 the hearing of the suit filed by the Nigeria Police Force against activist Omoyele Sowore and other organisers of the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest.
The case, which was initially slated for hearing on Monday, could not proceed as scheduled. The court session was disrupted by the same protest that took place outside the premises, grounding activities at the Federal High Court complex.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Justice Mohammed Umar had earlier issued an interim order restraining Sowore and others from staging demonstrations demanding the release of Nnamdi Kanu in certain sensitive parts of Abuja.
Justice Umar prohibited protests around the Aso Rock Villa, National Assembly, Force Headquarters, Court of Appeal, Eagle Square, and Shehu Shagari Way until the court hears the main application.
The judge also directed an abridgement of time “within which the respondents will respond to the application on notice to cause the ex-parte order be set aside on Monday, the 20th of October, 2025, at 9.00 a.m.,” before shifting the hearing of the motion on notice to October 29.
The interim order followed an ex-parte motion filed by police counsel Wisdom Madaki, representing the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN). The motion, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2202/2025, lists Sowore, Sahara Reporters Ltd, and Sahara Reporters Media Foundation as the 1st to 3rd respondents.
Also joined in the suit are the Take It Back Movement (TIB), along with “the Transformation of Nigeria or Any Form of Organisation or Any Other Person(s) Acting Either Express or Implied Instruction or Any Other Organisation or Group With the Like Intention,” as 4th and 5th respondents.
In an affidavit supporting the motion, Bassey Ibithan, a police officer attached to the Directorate of Legal Services at Force Headquarters, Abuja, argued that failure to grant the request could “threaten national security.”
Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in 2019 and 2023, had called for a peaceful protest on October 20 to demand the release of Kanu, the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Several demonstrators, including Kanu’s special counsel Aloy Ejimakor, were reportedly arrested during the protest. They are expected to be arraigned on October 24 before a Kuje Magistrate Court in Abuja.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Sowore was reportedly taken away by armed police officers within the premises of the Federal High Court, shortly after appearing in court in solidarity with Kanu.
Eyewitnesses said the officers approached him and insisted he follow them to the FCT Police Command. When Sowore asked for the reason behind his arrest, one of the policemen replied:
> “The commissioner of police said we should bring you to the office.”
Despite questioning why there was no formal invitation, Sowore agreed to go with the officers on the condition that his lawyer would accompany him. He was subsequently taken away in a police van.
NAN
