Atiku Condemns Sowore’s Trial, Accuses Tinubu Govt Of Suppressing Critics And Opposition
He further lamented that beyond Sowore, other vocal critics, including Prof. Usman Yusuf, have also been targeted by the government.
Former Vice President and 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has strongly condemned the detention and prosecution of activist Omoyele Sowore, calling it part of a broader crackdown on dissent by the Bola Tinubu-led administration.
Atiku described the charges against Sowore as “baseless,” accusing the Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun and Tinubu Government of being complicit in what he termed “a campaign of intimidation and suppression against opposition voices”.
Atiku made this known in his X handle on Thursday, saying the baseless prosecution of Sowore is the latest chapter in this unrelenting campaign.
Atiku explained that the Tinubu administration and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are devoting their energies to systematic harassment, intimidation, and dismantling of the opposition, all in service of their grand design for a one-party autocracy.
He further lamented that beyond Sowore, other vocal critics, including Prof. Usman Yusuf, have also been targeted by the government.
Atiku said, “When I made the clarion call that Tinubu and the APC were devoting their energies to the systematic harassment, intimidation, and dismantling of the opposition, all in service of their grand design for a one-party autocracy, I became the target of vicious attacks.
“The arrest and baseless prosecution of Sowore is the latest chapter in this unrelenting campaign. Now, they have seen fit to add Professor Usman Yusuf — an outspoken critic of this administration — into their grim roster. At the pace they are going, it seems they may soon find themselves contending with the incarceration of every one of us,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sowore, a known critic of past and present administrations, has repeatedly faced arrests and legal battles over his activism and calls for government accountability.
Earlier, SaharaReporters reported that Justice Musa Suleiman Liman of the Federal High Court in Abuja had granted bail to the former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), in the sum of N10 million with one surety of the same amount.
The court also ruled that the surety must have verified landed property in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and the applicant must deposit his passport with the court and provide an affidavit of means.
Sowore, who has been undergoing legal proceedings, was initially required to meet the bail conditions within a set timeframe. However, the court granted him a 24-hour extension to fulfill the terms.
