The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has secretly planned to fly human rights activist Omoyele Sowore from Abuja to Lagos on Monday after he honors a police invitation.
SaharaReporters reported on Friday that the police had invited Sowore for questioning over a video he recorded during an altercation with police officers on the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Access Road in Lagos.
This is contained in a letter dated January 23, 2025 and signed by CP Ibitoye Rufus Alajide, Commissioner of Police (OPS), on behalf of the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force Intelligence Department (FID), Abuja.
The invitation letter asked Sowore to report on Monday, January 27, 2025, for an interview with the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force Intelligence Department (FID).
According to the police, it is “investigating a case of resisting and obstructing public officers, disobedience to lawful order, acts intended to cause grievous harm or prevent arrest, compelling action by intimidation, reckless & negligent acts, refusal to assist public servant and cyberstalking in which your name featured, prominently”.
SaharaReporters learned from sources on Saturday that the invitation is not related to the video but rather stems from a deep-seated personal grudge that the police boss Egbetokun holds against the Publisher of SaharaReporters.
According to sources, the invitation is motivated by Sowore’s nickname for Egbetokun – “Illegal IG,” in reference to his tenure being extended beyond the retirement age.
For example, on December 20, 2024, Sowore called for the release of Olamide Thomas, a nurse detained for allegedly insulting President Bola Tinubu’s son, Seyi, as well as Egbetokun and the Force spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, in a social media post.
In the post, Sowore said, “The illegal IG of Nigeria Police Force, Kayode Egbetokun will make the next #ENDSARS inevitable! He is working tirelessly towards it. Just a matter of time! #EgbetokunMustGo #Revolution freeolamidenow.”
Meanwhile, Sowore has vowed to honour the police invitation on Monday.
But sources close to the matter have revealed that Egbetokun still smarting from being labelled “Illegal IG” by Sowore, following the extension of his tenure beyond the mandatory retirement age.
“The plot being hatched by the inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun had nothing to do very much with the viral anti-extortion video for which Sowore has now been invited for interview on Monday at the Police Headquarters in Abuja,” one of the sources said.
“Instead SaharaReporters learnt that the IGP holds a very-very personal grudge against the publisher of SaharaReporters over his constant referral to him an ‘illegal IGP’, a sobriquet Sowore adopted since last year when the IGP’s tenure was extended beyond his retirement age.”
Also, according to sources, Egbetokun had been monitoring how to “deal” with Sowore and had informed senior police officers in his circle that he would take his pound of flesh whenever the opportunity arose.
However, the reality is that after Sowore encountered policemen engaging in illegal roadblocks and extortion on the way to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, all the policemen involved were rounded up and they confessed to their illegal acts.
“Their lead also told the police hierarchy that they recognised Sowore and let him go not knowing he caught them on tape operating an illegal checkpoint,” a source said.
“However, the DIG in charge of the Force Intelligence Department (FID) (DIG Dasuki D. Galadanchi); Chief Legal Officer of the NPF, Samuel Lough and the Force PRO (Adejobi) and the PSO (Principal Staff Officer – Johnson Adenola) to the IGP have been deliberating for weeks since the video went viral on how to get Sowore implicated in a string of crimes.
“They’ve also got the CPs of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Center (NPF-NCCC) and the IRT unit involved and deliberated for weeks on the best strategy to employ considering how delicate the situation is because of the public.”
The sources revealed that it was decided a few days ago that Sowore should be officially invited, interrogated, and detained in Abuja before being flown to Lagos to face trial.
According to them, the plan is for a judge to either deny him bail or set bail conditions so high that he would be remanded in prison custody for a while.
