Omoyele Sowore, activist and former presidential candidate, on Monday accused the Nigeria Police Force of deliberately wasting the court’s time after the trial of protesters arrested during the October 20, 2025 #FreeNnamdiKanu protest was adjourned to February 26, 2026.
Speaking to journalists outside the Kuje Magistrate Court, Sowore said police prosecutors admitted they were not ready for trial and only served the defence with proof of service inside the courtroom on the day of the hearing.
“They came to court and told the magistrate they were not ready. They served proof of service this morning in court and came without witnesses,” Sowore said. “This is a waste of the court’s time and a frivolous spending of taxpayers’ money.”
According to him, the defence team had indicated readiness to proceed, but the prosecution requested an adjournment, forcing the court to shift the matter to February 26, 2026.
The court, Sowore disclosed, ordered the police to appear on the next adjourned date with five witnesses, as proposed by the prosecution.
“It is now on record that they have five witnesses and the court has ordered them to come with all of them,” he said.
Sowore, who said he was arrested while addressing the press during the protest, described the charges as an attempt to criminalise constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.
“I don’t know when freedom of expression and freedom of assembly became a crime in Nigeria,” he said, accusing the Tinubu administration of running what he described as an oppressive and intolerant regime.
He further criticised the Inspector-General of Police for initiating the case, insisting that the continued prosecution of peaceful protesters exposed what he called the government’s growing hostility to dissent.
“We came to court today to witness history and the ridicule of this regime as it keeps ridiculing itself,” Sowore added.
Earlier, Aloy Ejimakor, defence counsel to the protesters, confirmed that the case could not proceed because the prosecution only served proof of evidence on the defence on the hearing date and failed to produce witnesses.
Ejimakor explained that the defendants, popularly known as the ‘Kuje 14’, were arrested during a peaceful and police-approved protest calling for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
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“This protest was peaceful, permitted by the police and did not violate any restricted area,” Ejimakor said. “Yet, they are being tried as if protest has suddenly become a crime in Nigeria.”
He added that the defendants remained confident of justice, noting that the adjournment only reinforced their claim that the charges were persecution rather than prosecution.
Despite the setback, Sowore and other defendants vowed to return to court on the next hearing date, insisting that the case would ultimately test Nigeria’s commitment to democracy and constitutional freedoms.
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