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Police lack powers to declare people wanted without court order – judge
It was a day of triumph for Omoyele Sowore at the Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday, where Justice Musa Kakaak ordered the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), to pay him N30million, unlawfully declaring the popular activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, wanted in 2025.
Kakaak in the judgement on the matter filed by Tope Temokun, Sowore’s lawyer, held that the police action violated constitutional provisions and amounted to an abuse of power and slammed the fine against the police authorities, Kayode Egbetoku, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and Moshood Jimoh, Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, at the time.
Kakaaki, who lashed out at the police for the conduct, reaffirmed that no Nigerian should be criminalised for exercising the right to free speech, peaceful protest, or for holding government authorities accountable, stressed that the action of those involved amounted to “lawlessness.”
The judge, who traced the historical evolution of declaring citizens wanted in Nigeria, while urging that the law now required strict procedural safeguards, maintained that a person could only be declared wanted after a valid court-issued warrant, proper notice, and credible evidence that the individual is deliberately evading lawful judicial process.
Kakaaki, while holding that the warning issued by Jimoh on 27 October 2025, directing Sowore to stay away from Lagos State, was arbitrary, unconstitutional, and beyond the lawful powers of the police, added that the public notice issued on 3 November 2025 declaring Sowore wanted was described as illegal, ultra vires, unconstitutional, and a grave abuse of authority.
Jimoh, who accused Sowore of attempting to mobilise a protest on the Third Mainland Bridge over the demolition of properties in Oworonshoki, had an earlier directive issued in October 2025 ordered the activist and former presidential candidate to stay away from Lagos State.
In his suit taking out against the NPF, Egbetokun AND Moshood, seeking enforcement of his fundamental rights, Sowore had asked the court to uphold his rights to dignity, personal liberty, freedom of movement, expression, and peaceful assembly as guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
In an affidavit supporting the suit, the activist maintained that he was declared wanted without any prior police invitation, arrest warrant, or formal charge. He argued that the action not only breached his constitutional protections but also tarnished his reputation as a journalist, activist, and former presidential candidate.
Through his legal team led by Tope Temokun, Sowore contended that he would have honoured any lawful invitation extended to him by the authorities.
He therefore sought an order restraining the police from harassing, intimidating, or arresting him and asked the court to nullify the public notice branding him “wanted.”
Additionally, he demanded ₦500 million in general and exemplary damages for what he described as the unlawful and oppressive violation of his fundamental rights.
The police opposed the suit, insisting that the commissioner acted within his legal authority in declaring Sowore wanted. They maintained that anyone dissatisfied with the decision was free to seek redress in court.
Jimoh who had while appearing on Sunrise Daily on Channels Television on 5 November 2025, defended his action, by claiming Sowore had failed to honour an agreement to report to the police, stressed: “My declaration that Sowore is wanted is still in force.”
He explained that Sowore’s lawyer had contacted him via text message while he was responding to a riot situation and was subsequently referred to the Officer-in-Charge of the Legal Department. According to him, the lawyer agreed that Sowore would appear at the State Criminal Investigation Department in Yaba, where the matter was being investigated.
“But throughout yesterday, he failed to report. We will do everything within the ambit of the law to get him arrested, investigated, and prosecuted.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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