Five Years After EndSARS, Nigeria Braces for Another Protest as Sowore Leads Free Nnamdi Kanu March
The protest, according to Sowore, will begin at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja and spread across major cities in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
Five years after the deadly EndSARS demonstrations that shook Nigeria’s power corridors, the country is once again on edge as activist Omoyele Sowore prepares to lead a nationwide protest demanding the release of detained Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu. The protest, according to Sowore, will begin at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja and spread across major cities in Nigeria and other parts of the world. Free Nnamdi Kanu March
Sowore, who spoke during a briefing, said the protest would go ahead peacefully despite what he described as attempts by security agencies to suppress it through a hurriedly obtained court order. He insisted that no valid order had been served on the organisers and that the planned protest remained within the rights of citizens under the Nigerian constitution. “Tomorrow we will be out there and we will march peacefully, powerfully and legally on the streets of Abuja and anywhere you might be,” he said. “Our own position is that this must be a completely peaceful protest and we hope that at the end of it common sense will prevail and we will bring Mr Nnamdi Kanu home.”
According to him, the protest is not merely about one man’s freedom but about the soul of Nigeria’s democracy and the rule of law. Sowore described Kanu’s continued detention by the Department of State Services (DSS) as an affront to the constitution and a disgrace to the Nigerian judiciary. He recalled that the Court of Appeal in 2022 discharged and acquitted Kanu, yet the DSS refused to release him in open disobedience of that judgment. “Mr Nnamdi Kanu’s detention is not just illegal, it is a national disgrace,” Sowore said. “The government is disobeying its own courts and mocking the Nigerian constitution it claims to uphold. The court of appeal cleared Mr Kanu in 2022, yet the DSS never released him even for a second. It was pure contempt and it has always been their tradition to defy the rule of law.”
He criticised the Supreme Court for what he called a “twisted justice” that reversed a final decision of a competent court. Even then, he said, the apex court never found Kanu guilty of violating his bail terms but blamed the Nigerian Army for the chaos that led to his re-arrest. “Nobody under the law should be tried for an offence for which they have been discharged and acquitted. It is known as double jeopardy,” Sowore added. “You cannot try anybody under a law that does not exist. The law under which Mr Kanu has been tried, the Terrorism Act of 2013, is dead and buried.”
The activist said the Free Nnamdi Kanu march symbolises the broader struggle for every Nigerian’s right to justice, dignity and freedom. “When the state tramples on one man’s right, it endangers all of us,” he said. “Our demand is very clear: obey the law and free Nnamdi Kanu now.”
He also dismissed claims that the protest had been outlawed by a court order, explaining that the police went to a federal high court last Friday seeking to restrain the movement from visiting certain areas in Abuja but were denied a full injunction. “The judge vehemently denied that he cannot ask Nigerians not to protest or exercise their fundamental human rights,” he said. “They granted a limited order that the defendants must be served by Friday, but we have not been served. I only got to hear about it from another person. The order has lapsed because an ex parte order that has not been served is inactive.”
Sowore described the attempt to stop the protest as an act of desperation and accused security agencies of distorting the law to suppress dissent. He assured that the organisers had no plan to cause chaos and urged protesters to remain disciplined. “It has always been a peaceful movement,” he said, noting that Kanu himself had repeatedly maintained his belief in nonviolence.
When asked about the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) which recently issued a statement viewed as siding with the government, Sowore called the association’s stance “a disgrace” and said it reflected the moral decline of national institutions. “Maybe all the doctors with common sense have left the country,” he said. “Otherwise the NMA I used to know under Dr Bekor and Suti would never have sided with injustice.”
The protest is expected to draw attention both locally and internationally as tensions rise over the state’s handling of political dissent. For many Nigerians, the memory of EndSARS still lingers, with scars of lost lives, repression and unfulfilled promises of reform. While the government insists on maintaining order, activists like Sowore argue that silencing citizens is no path to stability. As Nigeria braces for what could become another defining protest in its democratic journey, questions remain about how the authorities will respond to yet another public cry for justice.c Free Nnamdi Kanu March
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