Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has decried what he describes as systematic dismantling of the opposition by the President Bola Tinubu administration.
In a post on his X handle, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 2023 presidential candidate, said that the recent arrest and “baseless prosecution” of Omoyele Sowore and Usman Yusuf is the latest in the harassment of opposition figures.
“When I made the clarion call that Tinubu and the APC were devoting their energies to the systematic harassment, intimidation, and dismantling of the opposition, all in service of their grand design for a one-party autocracy, I became the target of vicious attacks.
“The arrest and baseless prosecution of @YeleSowore is the latest chapter in this unrelenting campaign. Now, they have seen fit to add Professor Usman Yusuf — an outspoken critic of this administration — into their grim roster. At the pace they are going, it seems they may soon find themselves contending with the incarceration of every one of us.”
Sowore, who is the convener of the #Revolutionnow movement, had honoured the invitation of the police on Monday, January 27, 2025, when he was questioned at the Force Criminal Investigation Department.
He was subsequently granted administrative bail but rejected the conditions of bail and remained in custody.
The police later filed a 16-count charge of cybercrime against him.
On Thursday, the court granted Sowore bail to the tune of ₦10 million and one surety in like sum.
The surety must be a responsible individual with landed property valued in like sum.
The surety is expected to deposit the original documents of landed property and a passport photograph to the registrar of the court.
While ruling on the bail application, the trial judge, Justice Musa Liman, ordered Sowore to deposit his international passport with the registrar of the court.
The judge, however, gave him 24 hours to perfect the bail conditions or be remanded by the police until the bail is perfected.
Another critic of the Tinubu administration and former Executive Secretary of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf, was arrested on Wednesday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on allegations of fraud.
He was to be arraigned on Friday, but the arraignment was, however, moved to Monday to allow for amendment of the charges, according to a statement by the EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale.
Though defence counsel, Isah Dokto Haruna, who held brief for the lead defence counsel, O.I.Habeeb, SAN, made an application for bail, it was turned down by the court on account of the defendant’s deferred arraignment.
Justice Nwecheonwu adjourned the matter till February 3, 2025, for arraignment and ruled that the defendant be remanded in the custody of the Commission.
