By Omoleye Sowore
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!If anything could be regarded as one of the most bizarre and byzantine judicial manipulations, it played out today at the Federal High Court in Abuja. Before two vacation judges, I was confronted with the spectacle of two simultaneous cases, both filed against me by the Nigeria Police Force under its illegal Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and both bordering on allegations of “cybercrime.”
As I shared with those following my updates last week, these new cases stem directly from my illegal arrest and torture in a police cell on August 6th, 2025. Upon my release, police prosecutors twice proposed that I “make peace” with the illegal IGP. They asked that I attend a meeting with Egbetokun himself.
I refused. Not once, but every time. I rejected their offer on principle, because such a meeting would compromise my long-standing position that Kayode Egbetokun was illegally appointed as IGP, having already completed his service as a police officer according to civil service rules.
Their response was swift and vindictive. They swore to “deal with me.” And today’s judicial ambush was their attempt to make good on that promise. But I was and remain ready for the consequences.
It was a calculated maneuver. The cases were deliberately fixed for hearing at the same time and on the same day, coincidentally listed as number three on the cause list of two separate courts, one before Justice M.S. Liman, the other before Justice Emeka Nwite. The plan was transparent and calculated to overwhelm us, disorient us, and box us into a corridor of legal limbo.
In Justice Liman’s court, an ex parte motion sought the release of my international passport, unjustly withheld since February 2025.
Ironically, Liman himself is the substantive judge on the matter, but he had skipped two earlier hearings, each time excusing himself as being “out of town.” Now, suddenly, the urgency was not “weighty enough” to warrant his attention as a vacation judge.
Meanwhile, in Justice Nwite’s courtroom, the police pressed for an order of substituted service in a case already billed for arraignment. They were desperate to drag Sahara Reporters, a U.S.-registered publication, in as a co-accused, an attempt to criminalize independent journalism. At the last sitting, the arraignment had stalled because they had failed to serve Sahara Reporters.
Today, Justice Nwite granted their application for substituted service, handing them the lifeline they craved the ability to place a notice in a Nigerian newspaper and claim they had “served” SaharaReporters.
Behind the courtroom choreography, the desperation of the regime was palpable. Police lawyers hurriedly demanded certified copies of the order so they could rush to publish proof of service before Wednesday, when the prime case is scheduled to be called and heard. It was all about face-saving; they do not believe in justice; it is alien to their mode of operation.
Yet in the midst of this trap, we remained unshaken. Our legal team led by Marshal Abubakar of Falana Chambers and the younger but undaunted Rosemary Hamza who joined from the law chambers of Deji Adeyanju Chambers, navigated the twin currents of jurisdiction and fairness with composure and clarity. They expected us to be confused; instead, we were prepared. They sought to entrap us; instead, their desperation was laid bare.
With a handful of comrades present in solidarity, we turned their legal ambush into a mirror of their own fear. For what they fear is not the courtroom, nor the motions and counter-motions. What they fear is the power of a people mobilized.
The dual case gambit could not define or confuse us. Their schemes cannot derail us. If anything, today at the Federal High Court only proved that the unpopular Tinubu regime is running scared and that our readiness, borne of years of struggle, remains our greatest weapon.
And in that readiness lives the persistence of the revolution. #RevolutionNow
*Omoyele Yele Sowore is a Nigerian Politician, Human Rights Activist, Citizen reporter, Writer, Lecturer and pro-democracy campaigner
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