Lagos CP Sowore Wanted Declaration: Jimoh Insists He Has the Constitutional Power
By: Abudu Olalekan
A serious crisis erupted when the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olohundare Jimoh, decided that activist and vocal publisher, Omoyele Sowore, needed to be declared wanted. It was sudden. It was definitive. And Jimoh is absolutely standing his ground. He acted. Plain and simple. The police boss isn’t just defending his actions; he’s challenging anyone who disagrees to take the fight to the courtroom. He says the decision to slap a “wanted” tag on Sowore was purely a constitutional exercise of power, necessary to keep Lagos from exploding into chaos.
Appearing recently on a popular Channels Television program, Sunrise Daily, Commissioner Jimoh explained his stance with the unflappable confidence of a man who believes he’s done right by the law. His mandate? Public order. His justification? Preventing a planned, frankly “violent protest” that he alleges Sowore was organizing right here in Lagos.
“I have the right to declare him wanted. Any person who says I don’t got such a right should go to court and try stop me,” the police commissioner stated firmly. His tone was not argumentative, but rather one of administrative certainty.
The CP explained that this wasn’t some random vendetta. Security operatives had been monitoring Sowore’s online activities very closely. What they found, according to Jimoh, was definitive evidence posted by the activist himself on his X handle—details that indicated specific and alarming plans. Sowore, the CP noted, had posted about taking a bath in Abuja, and then announcing, “the next point is Lagos, to block the Third Mainland Bridge.” It’s a major artery. You don’t just block the Third Mainland Bridge. That’s anarchy waiting to happen, really.
The police response was immediate and preemptive. Jimoh described how they moved swiftly, cordoning off the designated areas where the alleged violent protest was supposed to take root. They weren’t waiting around for trouble. They moved first. This swift action culminated in the arrest of 13 suspects that Jimoh said were directly linked to Sowore’s planned mobilization. Furthermore, the authorities seized the tools of the trade: a vehicle carrying loudspeakers and a generator. Everything needed for a prolonged demonstration designed to disrupt essential services was taken off the street. Done deal.
“I don’t just declare someone wanted for nothing,” Jimoh clarified. “We were well prepared. We cordoned off the entire area where he’s designated to come and conduct these violent protests. And we ensured that we made alternative arrangements for people to use.”
The Commissioner emphasized that his actions are fundamentally guided by the Constitution—the need to ensure public safety, protect lives and property, and simply avert chaos in a densely populated metropolis like Lagos. “I have the right under the Constitution to prevent crime from occurring, to prevent anybody that wants to take us into the house, to cause mayhem across the country,” he insisted. That is his job, after all.
However, the CP also took time to squash widespread rumors about higher authority involvement. He confirmed that the Inspector-General of Police had not given him any directive to declare Sowore wanted, dismissing such reports as patently “mischievous” and untrue. “The IGP, I say without any doubt, has not given such an order. And he has not given it not only to me, to virtually all the police institutions across the country,” Jimoh confirmed.
Unsurprisingly, Sowore vehemently rejected the wanted status, calling the entire declaration unlawful. The activist issued a counter-statement, arguing that no police officer—not even a commissioner—possesses the authority to declare anyone wanted without a court-issued warrant. He went further, making sensational claims that the declaration stemmed from the police’s failure to execute an alleged “shoot-at-sight” order against him during an earlier Oworonshoki protest.
“I was informed that he [IGP Egbetokun] dispatched police officers to ambush me today. When this attempt failed, they declared me wanted,” Sowore wrote defiantly. But Commissioner Jimoh categorically denied these specific allegations, stating emphatically that no “shoot-at-sight” directive has ever been issued against Omoyele.
This ongoing clash of constitutional authority versus activist rights continues to unfold, monitored closely by Reportersroom.
