Kuje prison ‘rejects’ Sowore, others for hours

Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, and four other activists who were remanded on Monday by the Magistrate Court in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja were ‘rejected’ for over three hours by the Kuje correctional facility before they were eventually accepted.

Witnesses who followed the activists to the prison said the management of the prison cited non-availability of space as reason for the rejection.

“We just got to Kuje prison now and Sowore and others have been rejected. We are yet to know where they will be taken to,” one source told our correspondent at about 5 p.m.

The detained activists were held outside the prison premises for about four hours as police officers frantically made calls to their superiors and the interior ministry to intervene.

They were later accepted by the prison authorities at about 9 p.m., apparently after the intervention of the interior ministry.

Sowore and the four other activists will spend the night at the correctional centre before their next court appearance on Tuesday.

The activists were arrested for participating in a protest which took place on the eve of the New Year in Abuja.

They were taken to a police station in the Nigerian capital and were subsequently arraigned on Monday after spending four nights in police custody.

During their stay in detention, several civil rights organisations called for their release.

The police charged the protesters with unlawful assembly, criminal conspiracy and inciting public disturbance.

When their charges were read, the activists were asked to take pleas. They pleaded not guilty, saying all allegations against them were false.

In her ruling, the magistrate, Taye Maibel, said all the charges are bailable, except if the defendants are likely to evade trial or commit the same offence.

She ordered the defendants’ counsel to file a formal bail application before her at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday.

The magistrate initially said the defendants should be taken to the Wuse police station but later ruled that they should be taken to Kuje correctional centre pending the hearing of their bail application.

Source: Premium times

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