Sowore Gets Passport Back After Over a Year in Police-Backed Cybercrime Case
By: Abudu Olalekan
Human rights activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has finally gotten his passport back — after more than a year of what he’s calling an unjustified seizure tied to a controversial cybercrime case filed by the police.
He shared the update on Tuesday. And it wasn’t a short story.
Sowore gave a detailed account of everything that played out in court, pointing to what he described as a string of suspicious legal moves — all connected to a case originally pushed under former Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
It started with Justice Musa Liman striking out the cybercrime charges against Sowore. That should’ve been the end of it. But according to Sowore, Egbetokun — already removed from office by this point — allegedly wasn’t done.
“Rather than accept that ruling, Egbetokun, working through loyalists, orchestrated a fresh legal maneuver,” Sowore said.
He alleged that senior police officials, including Assistant Commissioner of Police Bukola Kuti and AIG Emmanuel Ade Aina — Director of Legal Services of the Nigeria Police Force — filed what he called a “bizarre” ex parte motion asking the court to relist the very same case that had already been struck out.
“It is astonishing that even after his removal from office, Egbetokun appears to continue exerting influence within the police hierarchy,” Sowore said.
His legal team, led by Barrister Marshal D.F. Abubakar and Barrister Rosemary Hamza of Adeyanju Deji’s chambers, moved quickly — applying for a certified copy of the ruling and the final order striking out the case. But even that wasn’t smooth. Court officials allegedly held things up, blaming a public holiday.
What Sowore really wanted back was his international passport and land documents belonging to his surety — both seized by Justice Liman as part of bail conditions set in January 2025. He says he asked. Repeatedly.
“Despite repeated applications, the judge refused to release it, at one point even suggesting that my wife and family must swear affidavits before it could be returned,” he said.
And the delays kept coming. Adjournments stacked up — blamed variously on conferences and other official commitments. Sowore says recent events have made him look at all those delays differently.
When he arrived in court on Tuesday, things took yet another twist. The registrar told his legal team that Justice Liman wouldn’t sign the ruling striking out the case until the police physically appeared in court, moved their relisting application, and then withdrew it — in open court. Not by paper. In person.
Then came another turn — the police filed a fresh ex parte application to withdraw the earlier relisting motion. And when proceedings were supposed to begin, Sowore’s team was told the case wasn’t even listed for hearing that day.
They pushed back. His lawyers insisted the police’s back-and-forth shouldn’t delay the release of the official ruling.
While waiting at the courthouse, Sowore stepped outside and spoke to journalists on a few national issues. That’s when things got uncomfortable. He says a Senior Advocate of Nigeria — identified as Musbau, SAN — walked up and tried to bully him and members of the press into leaving the courtroom area.
“He clearly did not anticipate what followed,” Sowore said. No further details on that.
Sowore and his team eventually left for another scheduled engagement — a meeting with the Independent National Electoral Commission in the FCT. While they were there, his lawyers called with an update.
Back in court, Justice Liman had relisted the matter, allowed a police lawyer to move the application, and then terminated the entire case — granting the police an ex parte order to withdraw it.
And just like that, the passport was released to his lawyer and returned to him.
“My international passport was subsequently released to my lawyer and returned to me, bringing to a close yet another prolonged and unjustified seizure,” Sowore said.
