On Friday, 24 October 2025, a Magistrate Court in Kuje granted bail to Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, Aloy Ejimakor, lawyer to detained IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, Kanu’s brother Prince Emmanuel Kanu, and ten other protesters arrested during the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest held earlier this week.
They were arraigned on charges of unlawful assembly and disturbance of public peace.
Each defendant was granted bail in the sum of ₦500,000.
The court imposed several conditions: submission of their verified National Identification Numbers (NINs), presentation of three-year tax clearance certificates, and surrender of their international passports.
Additionally, sureties were required.
Sowore was arrested on Thursday, 23 October at the Federal High Court in Abuja, where he had gone in an apparent show of solidarity as Kanu’s trial continued. The others were arrested during the protest on Monday, 20 October, in Abuja.
Following the bail decision, there were media reports that Sowore was re-arrested on fresh charges. His lawyer, Adeyanju Deji, claimed he was re-arrested on new charges after meeting bail conditions.
“He was violently attacked by the police. More than 50 police officers violently attacked him and took him again by force,” Deji told the press.
But the Nigeria Police Force spokesperson, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin denied that Sowore was re-arrested.
According to him, the activist was remanded in prison pending the time he meets his bail conditions.
“A person arrested on a fresh charge cannot be taken straight to prison,” he said. “No prison will accept such a person without a remand warrant duly issued by a competent court. He was taken to prison as instructed on the attached remand warrant pending when he meets his bail conditions, nothing more!”
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