The man who accused human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, of hijacking the #FearlessInOctober protest and preventing dialogue with President Bola Tinubu has been released on bail by Sowore himself.

The individual was among the nine protesters arrested during the demonstrations in Lagos State, who were later released by the Lagos State Police Command.
The protests were part of the #FearlessInOctober demonstrations and the accused was reportedly arrested by the police on October 2 in the Ojota area.

The release of the protesters is a significant development, especially after Sowore, former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) and Convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, stepped in to bail out the accuser.

The man had in an interview with TVC News said “When we declared this protest, Sowore and co were not there. As we are hungry they kept agitating for their political interest and it has been like that ever since election and after elections. But this hunger of a thing was our own cry out that we want to express our feelings and we came online and expressed it and it touched the whole Nigerians, and we realised many other people too are affected, and everybody too came down.

“So a situation where somebody has now turned this protest to something organised by Take It Back Movement is an hijack. This is a complete hijack of this protest. Let us go back to the basis. And what happened after you hijacked it; President Tinubu came and meet…and we saw that the only thing that is a take home in his speech is that he will open room for dialogue. You didn’t dialogue with him, you went to US. Only for you to come back few days to this one and start organising it under AAC, under Take It Back and, there’s nothing like Fearless, we were never afraid since we came…,” he had said.

The protesters regained their freedom on Friday, Francis Nwapa, National Secretary of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), disclosed on Friday in a post on his X account.

The protesters are identified as Funmi Robert (60), Sunday Obasoro (24), Sikiru Adeagbo (41), Babatunde Oyeleye (32), Akin Okunowo (50), Dare Toyin (21), Adebayo Shobogun (37), Michael Adeleke (23), and Stanley Akonye (42).

“Protesters that were arrested and detained by the Lagos @PoliceNG have been released after the intervention of comrades. Police must know that Protest is a Right guaranteed under Law. We demand an end to repression of dissenting voices,” Nwapa wrote.

The YRC earlier demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the nine protesters arrested during the #FearlessInOctober demonstrations in the state.

They were arrested at Gani Fawehinmi Park Ojota on October 2, 2024.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Olanrewaju Ishola, had said the arrests were made as part of proactive efforts to maintain public order, targeting those whose actions were deemed provocative and aimed at causing unrest.

The police command claimed they were not protesters.

Also, a press statement sent to SaharaReporters on Friday morning by the #EndBadGovernance Movement, said the police also took away a Toyota vehicle with registration number SRA 813 XB during the operation.

The statement read: “The #EndBadGovernance Movement, Lagos State, condemns the arrest of 9 people at the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota, Lagos by men of the Nigerian Police Force on Wednesday, 2nd October 2024. We hereby demand their immediate and unconditional release.”

The demonstration, which commenced on Tuesday, called for better governance in response to the rising cost of goods and services, economic hardship and unfavourable policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.