Activists granted bail

An Abuja court yesterday granted bail to journalist Omoyele Sowore and four other activists who were arrested on 1 January and charged with unlawful assembly, incitement, disturbance and criminal conspiracy. The Premium Times reports that the authorities said the suspects were arrested for ‘unlawfully gathering at very odd hours, thereby causing palpable tension among the residents of Gudu and Lokogoma’. A presidential candidate a year ago, Sowore, was also arrested in August 2019 for having called for a mass demonstration. A harsh critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, he is also the founder of the online newspaper, Sahara Reporters, an independent investigative media outlet.