TheCable

Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, says he was never arrested by the police.

Lekan Fatodu, a UK-based journalist, had claimed to have arrested Sowore for “blackmailing and criminally defaming” him.

Both men were at the office of Fatai Owoseni, commissioner of police in Lagos on Wednesday, and Sowore was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Panti.

But speaking to TheCable, the owner of the whistleblowing website said he refused to sign a bail bond before leaving Panti because he was not arrested.

“It’s not true that I was arrested. To prove that I was not arrested, when they asked me to sign a bail bond, I refused,” he said.

“I said to them, show me why and how I was arrested. They asked the investigation officer if he asked any charge against me and he said ‘No o. It’s two fighting’.

“So I said it is two fighting that brought us here. Where is the allegation and evidence? And they were looking at me.

“There is no evidence on police record that I was arrested. If I go back there today, they may arrest me, but as I am speaking with you today I was never arrested for any crime.”

Sowore said Fatodu ended up signing a bail bond, but he stood his ground.

He denied the allegations levelled against him, saying there was a grand conspiracy against him because of his role in exposing corruption.