In a stunning admission of procedural sleight-of-hand, the Nigeria Police Force’s IGP Monitoring Unit quietly amended its invitation to SaharaReporters publisher and human rights activist Omoyele Sowore, excising a wholly fictitious offence and citing instead nebulous allegations of forgery and criminal defamation.
The headline-grabbing twist came only after Sowore boldly challenged the legitimacy of the original letter—one invoking a non-existent “Inciting Disturbance” offence under Section 53(2) of an “Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2025” that does not exist.
Yet, despite this glaring legal void, the force has refused to furnish the petition or identify the complainant underpinning its latest summons, prompting fresh concerns over arbitrary policing and abuse of investigative powers.
The Phantom Charge: “Inciting Disturbance”
On 1 August 2025, Sowore received a letter signed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Akin Fakorede, head of the IGP Monitoring Unit, demanding his appearance at Force Headquarters, Abuja, to answer allegations of “inciting disturbance”—a phrase absent from Nigeria’s Criminal Code or the penal provisions of the ACJA 2015/2024.
The letter outrageously cited Section 53(2) of the ACJA 2025 as its legal basis, though no such section exists in any publicly gazetted statute.
Sowore, a former presidential candidate and convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, immediately branded the invitation “invalid” and “riddled with legal fabrications,” insisting on a properly issued summons and the advance petition that necessitated his interview.
A Pattern of Procedural Chicanery
This is far from Sowore’s first clash with the police hierarchy. In January 2025, he faced 17 counts of alleged cyber-offences for labelling Inspector-General Kayode Egbetokun an “Illegal IGP” following a controversial tenure-extension.
That charge sheet too rested on nebulous provisions of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act—widely criticised by legal scholars for its vague definitions and heavy-handed penalties.
Critics argue that the IGP Monitoring Unit’s modus operandi resembles a “trial by summons,” experimenting with successive legal pretexts until one sticks.
Policing by Trial and Error
Human rights advocates warn that this “trial and error” approach undermines the very foundations of due process.
Amnesty International’s recent report on Nigeria’s rights climate documented at least 24 protester fatalities when police opened fire during the #EndBadGovernance demonstrations in August 2024—an episode marked by gross violations of peaceful-assembly rights and paucity of external oversight.
Between 2012 and 2023, Amnesty recorded 555 victims of mob violence, often abetted by police inaction or complicity, illuminating a security apparatus unaccountable to the law.
Legal Void: ACJA 2025 Does Not Exist
The invocation of an “ACJA 2025” reeks of subterfuge. Nigeria’s Administration of Criminal Justice Act was enacted in 2015 and amended in 2024; no “2025” edition has been gazetted nor debated publicly in the National Assembly.
Legal experts warn that citing phantom statutes corrodes trust in state institutions, enabling security forces to invent offences at will. As Sowore quipped on social media:
“After being called out for fabricating offences and citing non-existent laws, the IGP Monitoring Unit has now revised its initial invitation, quietly removing the fictitious charge of ‘Inciting Disturbance’ and the absurd reference to Section 53(2) of the ACJA 2025.”
Forgery and Defamation: A Meagre Substitute
Having been exposed, the IGP Monitoring Unit swiftly swapped the phantom charge for allegations of forgery and criminal defamation—virtually indistinct terms that carry social stigma but demand concrete evidence.
Yet, the force still refuses to provide Sowore or his legal team with the petition or even disclose the complainant’s identity, reducing any hearing to an exercise in guesswork.
“This confirms what I’ve suspected all along,” Sowore declared, “they are simply engaging in trial and error, fishing for excuses!”.
Comparative Historical Facts
Political activists across Nigeria have endured a pattern of arbitrary summons.
In 2023 alone, at least 15 high-profile dissenters—from trade-union leaders to environmental campaigners—reported coercive invitations from various units of the Force, many invoking poorly-defined offences like “public misconduct” or “cyber propaganda”.
The absence of an independent Police Complaints Commission exacerbates the impunity, with internal review mechanisms notoriously deferential to the IGP’s office.
Voices from Civil Society
A legal luminary and former Attorney-General had decried the police’s tactics as “a flagrant abuse of investigative powers,” urging the National Assembly to establish a statutory oversight committee for the IGP Monitoring Unit.
Similarly, former Nigerian Bar Association’s (NBA) President, Olumide Akpata, warned that such manoeuvres “erode public confidence and threaten to criminalise legitimate political discourse”.
The Human Cost
Behind the procedural drama lies a human story of intimidation and censorship.
Sowore, whose SaharaReporters platform has exposed police graft—including the recent “promotion scandal” tied to romantic liaisons of the IGP—now risks another round of legal quagmires and potential detentions.
The psychological toll on activists summoned on nebulous grounds is well documented: Amnesty has recorded at least 30 minors detained during protests and dozens of activists facing pre-trial incarceration under similarly vague charges.
Conclusion: A Call for Accountability
The IGP Monitoring Unit’s embarrassed back-pedal—from “Inciting Disturbance” to “Forgery and Criminal Defamation”—lays bare a culture of arbitrary policing and legal fabrication.
Unless the force submits to transparent procedures—issuing properly signed summonses, disclosing petitions, and grounding allegations in codified law—Nigeria risks sliding further into rule-of-law erosion.
As civil society groups marshal calls for reform, the question remains: will the Police hierarchy heed calls for accountability, or persist in policing by trial and error?
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