A yet to be identified man, who neighbours claimed to be mentally challenged, on Sunday morning found his way into the temporary abode of recently released pro-democracy campaigner and journalist, Omoyele Sowore, in Abuja, assaulting a female activist and vandalising electronic items in the process.
The unknown man, who sneaked into the apartment at about 11:00am, went straight into the living room and sat comfortably in front of the television set as if in his house.
Minutes later, he walked into the kitchen but was challenged by a few of Sowore’s friends inside the house.
He ignored the individuals, walked to the back of the house, paced to the front of the building before activists around the place challenged him.
However, in the bid of the activists to ascertain where he came from and how he got into Sowore’s residence, the heavily-built stranger charged at a female activist, rained several blows on her before tearing her clothes.
Not done, the unknown man went further to grab the female activist by the hair and slammed her on the ground.
He went ahead to throw various objects in the sitting room at the television set in an attempt to shatter the screen and also vandalise other electronic devices in the living room area.
The stranger was however, later subdued by the activists and handed over to police personnel guarding the area and taken away in a van.
Sowore, who was resting in another part of the apartment, was alerted to the situation shortly afterwards.
The activist was released by the President Muhammadu Buhari regime after spending 143 in unjust incarceration for organising a protest tagged #RevolutionNow in August 2019.
When he was arraigned before a Federal High Court, Abuja, in September, the judge imposed stringent bail conditions on him in a case brought against him by the Nigerian Government.
Sowore is restricted to Abuja for the duration of his trial except the court changes its position and amends the bail conditions.
The judge’s declaration also forbids the 48-year-old activist from speaking to the press – conditions that clearly infringes upon his fundamental human rights of freedom of movement and association as guaranteed by the Nigerian constitution and Universal Declaration of Human Rights – a historic document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1948.
Sowore’s trial gets underway in February in the case the Nigerian Government accuses him of insulting President Buhari and planning to bring down his regime by calling on citizens to take to the streets on August 5 in peaceful demonstrations to demand a better country from leaders.
