The Federal High Court in Abuja was yesterday thrown into commotion as operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) invaded the court premises to re-arrest Omoyele Sowore, the convener of #RevolutionNow, about 15 hours after releasing him from custody.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, who had just adjourned Sowore’s matter to February 11, 2020, was forced to suspend sitting as she had to flee her court while lawyers and others in the courtroom scampered for safety.
Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters, who was released after 124 days in DSS detention about 7pm on Thursday, was back in court on Friday morning to face his treasonable felony charge.
However, based on the consensus of his counsel, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and that of the prosecution, Hassan Liman (SAN), Justice Ojukwu adjourned the matter till next year.
But as Sowore and Olawale Bakare, his co-defendant, were leaving the courtroom and the judge was already attending to another case, about 15 armed DSS operatives, who appeared to have laid an ambush for them, attempted to arrest them.
The move forced Sowore and Bakare to retreat to the courtroom, but Sowore was quickly held by an operative and both of them landed on the floor in one of the rows of the courtroom.
Although Sowore managed to free himself from the grip of the operative with the help of his supporters, other operatives, cocking their guns went after him, a development that forced the judge to flee the court, putting an end to the day’s sitting.
At this point, Sowore, who had been barricaded by his supporters, was heard raising the alarm that the DSS moves were an attempt to kill him, saying he had been told while in custody that he would not leave the DSS’ detention alive.
While speaking to journalists outside the court, Sowore’s lawyer described the development as a “horrendous, bizarre, and barbaric contempt of court” never witnessed under “even the most brutal of past dictators that had ever ruled Nigeria.”
“Under the military regime, the so-called enemies of the government would not be arrested in the web of the court, which is considered a sanctuary. The military regimes would always show some respect for the court and would only arrest after the person left the court premises. What we have witnessed today is alien to Nigeria,” Falana said.
He said the judge, during a meeting with him and the prosecution counsel in her chambers, expressed dismay over the development, acknowledging that she was made to flee her own court.
In the commotion, which had paralysed judicial activities in the court, Falana offered to drive his client to the DSS headquarters in Abuja. The operatives agreed to this plan as they drove in vehicles in front and behind Falana’s car while they made their way to the DSS headquarters. While Falana was sitting in the front seat, Sowore was sandwiched in the back seat, but was seen thumping his fist at his supporters as the vehicle drove off.
Falana later said on reaching the DSS office, that he was not allowed to meet with Sowore as he was asked to “come back later.’’
Meanwhile, as at the time of filing this report, no reason was given by the DSS for re-arresting them.
Earlier during Friday’s proceeding, Falana had informed the court that there were moves by the prosecution to file a fresh charge against Sowore and Bakare, an allegation promptly denied by the prosecution counsel.
It would be recalled that Sowore and Bakare were only released around 7pm on Thursday after Justice Ojukwu gave the DSS 24 hours to comply with the court’s order releasing the duo on bail, which hitherto had been ignored.
During Thursday’s proceedings, the judge had noted that after she signed the warrants for the release of the defendants from custody and same was served on the defendants, the DSS had no justifiable reason to continue to hold them in custody. She added that the law could not change for anybody.
Sowore, a presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) during the 2019 presidential election, is not a stranger to activism, dating back to his years in the university.
His current travail started with his call for revolution on July 15 during a rally he coordinated along with his party loyalists in Lagos.
During the rally he said, “This is just a rehearsal of what is going to visit Nigeria in the next few weeks, months, which will cause a revolution in this country. Nigerians are tired of the negligence, incompetence and wickedness in government. We want this country to experience a revolution. And we hope that everybody watching all over Nigeria will be getting ready.”
This call did not sit well with the security agencies, as few days later, Sowore was arrested in Lagos at 1:25am on August 3. The arrest came as he was preparing for his planned August 5 protest, which was meant to launch the said revolution.
His co-defendant in the ongoing case, 21-year-old Bakare, popularly called Mandate, was arrested on August 5 for participating in the #RevolutionNow protest in Osogbo, Osun State.
Reacting to a publication by Premium Times, an online medium, that President Buhari sent emissaries to Sowore in detention, the presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said the meeting was only an intervention by ‘media community’ and that it had nothing to do with the president.
Court orders for Sowore’s release
Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, who made the first order for Sowore’s release, had granted permission to the DSS to detain him for 45 days to allow the security agency conclude its investigation.
Following an application by Falana, the judge, on September 24, said there was no longer a subsisting order holding Sowore in detention; hence the need to grant him bail. He, however, ordered Sowore to deposit his international passport to the court while releasing him to his lawyer.
The judge held that Falana should be responsible for producing him in court once he had been notified of the charge against him, adding that the law provides for the freedom of all Nigerians, regardless of economic or political status.
While still in detention, Sowore and Bakare were charged with treasonable felony and others, including causing insult and hatred towards President Muhammadu Buhari. They were arraigned on September 30, where they pleaded not guilty to the seven-count charge.
Following their not-guilty pleas and an application for bail made on their behalf by Falana, the trial judge, Justice Ojukwu, on October 4, admitted Sowore to bail in the sum of N100million while Bakare got a N50million bail.
Unable to meet the bail conditions, they approached the court for variation. The judge, in granting the application, waived the earlier requirement that Sowore should deposit N50million as security and reduced the amount attached to Bakare’s bail.
After meeting the bail conditions on November 6, the defendants were still held in the DSS custody until 7pm of Thursday after the judge gave the Service 24hours to comply.
Several protests were held to force the hand of the DSS, including the one at the DSS headquarters in Abuja, Lagos, United Kingdom and by residents of Sowore’s community in Haworth, New Jersey, United States of America. The latest of these protests was at the premises of the Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday, where Sowore’s supporters attempted to stop the DSS from going away with their leader after he was re-arrested in the court premises.
While still waiting for the DSS to comply with the court order, the prosecution counsel filed an application before the court, reportedly to seek the transfer of Sowore and Bakare from the custody of the DSS to the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCS).
In a preliminary objection to this application, Sowore and Bakare, through their lawyer, said the application was frivolous, vexatious and unarguable and was only meant to frustrate the court order for their release from DSS custody.
Their lawyer, Falana, argued that the application showed there was no genuine interest to prosecute them.
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