Sowore: ‘Police Is Entertainment Organization’ – Inibehe

Human rights lawyer and activist, Effiong Inibehe, has said Omoyele Sowore did no wrong in the eyes of the law to justify Nigeria Police’s invitation.

Naija News reported that the former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Sowore, rejected administrative bail conditions given to him by police on Monday.

In an interview with News Central on Tuesday morning, Barrister Inibehe argued that the bail condition sought by Nigeria Police was impossible for Sowore to fulfill.

Sowore Committed No Crime

According to the human rights lawyer, it was wrong for the police to have invited the human rights activist because he allegedly refused to stop at a checkpoint.

He accused the Police of turning checkpoints into means of extorting and harassing Nigerians.

“The facts must be set out clearly. Whatever the police perceive Sowore has done, whatever infraction they believe he has committed, it only exists essentially in their mind. It is not real. It is not one that has any utilitarian value. It is not one that is plausibly in law. And I’m convinced that whatever charge they bring will collapse on the first day.

“This is not about law. This is not about an attempt to bring Sowore to justice. There is no offense known to law that he has committed. All those claims they are making about disobeying lawful directives, obstructing a police officer in the performance of his duty, cyber-stalking, these are imaginary offenses that the police have invented.

“And people say, well, I heard when you were saying that, oh, that why did they have to engage in an altercation with them? The question is why did the police stop the vehicle that it was inside? Why did they stop it? Under the law, the police does not have a unilateral, unquestionable, and unlimited power to stop citizens while in motion, right?

“To say that the police can not simply halt a vehicle and then begin to interrogate the occupant. It is simply wrong in the eyes of the law. If they stop him for the purpose of carrying out a search, the question is why, what was the basis for seeking to conduct a search? (sic)” Inibehe said.

The Position of Police Act

Barrister Inibehe also argued that Nigeria Police failed to act in line with the Police Act. He stressed that Police were not supposed to carry out searches without reasonable suspicion of crime.

He stated that in the AAC’s former presidential candidate’s case, there was no reasonable suspicion of crime to warrant his search.

“Under the Police Act, for the police to carry out a search, there must be reasonable suspicion of commission of crime. But you and I know that what the police does in Nigeria in 95 percent of the cases regarding search is not because they have any reasonable suspicion that the driver or any occupant of a vehicle has committed an offense. It is principally for extortion. It is also for the purpose of harassment of Nigerians,” he noted.

He added that the concern on whether Sowore would jump bail was unfounded considering he had no such record.

“This is someone that the federal government of Nigeria detained under the dictatorial government of Buhari for four years, for almost four years, right, for alleged treasonable felony. He did not run away, even when he was released.

“Sowore currently has a number of criminal charges at his facing. He goes abroad and comes back and has never jumped there. If the former two-time presidential candidate, the leader of a political party, if the founder of one of the leading media organizations in our country, and in his own rights, a leading voice in our country, and he walks into the police headquarters, honors your invitation. And what do they do? You say, he should go and bring a level 17 civil servant. And later, you say, oh, bring a level 16 civil servant,” he explained.

Police Acting In Bad Fate, Sowore’s Bail Condition

Inibehe said police action was in bad fate and outrageous. He also said Sowore’s bail condition was against an Appeal Court ruling.

His words: “This is the police acting in bad fate. This is outrageous what they have done. The Court of Appeal has made it clear that the requirement of asking a person to produce a civil servant at the shotty is unknown to law.

“And in any event, the law is clear that conditions of bail must not be stringent, must be one that is capable of being fulfilled. So they have not granted him bail. What they have done is simply to introduce an impossible administrative bail condition, knowing that no civil servant, that the chances or the possibility of a civil servant of that carder coming out to stand as a shotty for someone like Soworeis very slim, someone who is seen as an enemy of the Nigerian government.

“So I think they are just being mischievous. They are making a ridicule of themselves. They are reminding themselves that the police is an entertainment organization, right? It is just for entertainment and corruption. This is not about crime or law enforcement in any way. And we are going to challenge them on this. We are going to take them to the cleaners. We are not going to shy away from defending Sowore irrespective of whatever sentiment the police have expressed.

“Beside that, the law is also clear that where a person is unable to fulfill the conditions of administrative bail, the police must still arrange that person in court within 24 hours. So by today, I expect them to bring Sowore before a judge, before a court of law. If they don’t do that, they have already violated his conditional rights by inviting him without any legal basis (sic).