Dare Babalola
Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has disclosed that he met with the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), over the continued detention and prosecution of a whistleblower identified as Justice Chidiebere, popularly known as “Justice Crack.”
Sowore made this known in a post shared on X on Thursday, stating that the visit took place on Wednesday and was aimed at pressing for the immediate discontinuation of charges filed against the detainee by the Department of State Services (DSS).
According to Sowore, he was accompanied by Barrister Marshal D. F. Abubakar and the National Secretary of the African Action Congress (AAC), Oshioks Philip.
“Yesterday, I hesitantly visited Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of the Federation over the case of Justice Chidiebere, also known as Justice Crack,” Sowore wrote.
He alleged that the whistleblower was being “unjustly persecuted” by the DSS after suffering abduction, torture, and degrading treatment at the hands of the Nigerian Army headquarters.
Sowore explained that the purpose of the meeting was to follow up on an earlier letter written by Barrister Abubakar, requesting the AGF to discontinue what he described as “reckless charges” filed by the DSS.
“Our mission was straightforward. It was to follow up on the letter earlier written by Barrister Marshal demanding that the Attorney General discontinue the reckless charges filed by the DSS against Justice Crack,” he said.
He further claimed that the charges had led to the continued remand of the whistleblower in DSS custody by a Federal High Court judge, Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik.
The activist said his team strongly objected to what they termed the abuse of legal process, insisting that the case was built on torture, abuse of power, and unethical charges.
“We made it unequivocally clear that we would not tolerate any further delay in discontinuing the case, citing torture, abuse of process, and bogus unethical charges,” Sowore stated.
He also said the delegation raised another detention case involving one Ighorhiohwunu Aghogho, who is reportedly being held at the Warri Custodial Centre in Delta State over alleged cyberstalking charges.
“We also brought to his attention the case of Ighorhiohwunu Aghogho who remains in detention at the Warri Custodial Centre in Delta State. His case has faced repeated delays at the Federal High Court in Warri,” he added.
Sowore noted that Fagbemi, who was joined during the meeting by the Solicitor-General and the Director of Public Prosecution, promised to look into the complaints raised.
“Mr. Fagbemi… promised to look into our complaints,” he wrote.
He, however, claimed that the minister appeared uneasy during the meeting, citing previous protests at the ministry.
“It was obvious he was uncomfortable with my presence, partly because we occupied his ministry while he was away on Monday,” Sowore alleged.
He concluded by saying the delegation now expects a swift resolution and an immediate end to what he described as persecution.
