By Correspondent in Abuja.
Court proceedings at the Federal High Court, Abuja, were on Monday brought to a standstill as hearing in the police suit against Omoyele Sowore and other conveners of the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest failed to hold.
Our correspondent reports that the high-rise building housing no fewer than 13 courts, all the courtrooms were under lock and key by 10.a.m.
Although a few court workers, lawyers, litigants, and private security guards were seen within the premises, no judge was sighted.
There was also heavy security presence in and around key intersections, including Gana Street, Shehu Shagari Way by Nicon Hilton Hotel, NITEL Junction in Wuse 2, the Federal Secretariat, National Assembly Junction, and the Asokoro District leading to the Presidential Villa.
Vehicular movement was restricted, and many pedestrians were denied passage through the barricaded areas, as police operatives reportedly fired tear gas in some locations to disperse crowds.
Our correspondent recalls that Justice Mohammed Umar had, on Friday, fixed Monday for the respondents in the ex-parte motion filed by the police, on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN), to show cause why the interim order earlier granted should not be vacated.
The judge had restrained Sowore, the first respondent, and others from staging protests in sensitive parts of Abuja, including the Aso Rock Villa, in their demand for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The court also barred the protesters from converging near the National Assembly, Force Headquarters, Court of Appeal, Eagle Square, and Shehu Shagari Way, pending the hearing of the substantive motion.
Other respondents listed in the interim order include Sahara Reporters Ltd, Sahara Reporters Media Foundation, the Take It Back (TIB) Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria, “any other organisation or persons acting under their instruction or with similar intent,” as well as unknown persons, bringing the total respondents to five.
The ex-parte motion, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2202/2025, was moved on Friday by police counsel Wisdom Madaki, who argued that allowing the planned protest could pose a threat to national security.
In a supporting affidavit, Bassey Ibithan, a police officer attached to the Directorate of Legal Services, Force Headquarters, Abuja, deposed that the planned demonstration could cause a breakdown of law and order if not urgently curtailed.
Justice Umar had also granted an order of abridgement of time within which the respondents should respond to the motion on notice and fixed Monday, October 20, 2025, for hearing.
However, the sitting could not proceed as scheduled, leaving activities at the Federal High Court completely paralysed.
Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 and 2023 elections, had mobilised Nigerians for what he described as a peaceful protest to demand Kanu’s release.
Meanwhile, calls for a political solution to Kanu’s continued detention persist, even as his trial on alleged terrorism charges continues before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
