Renowned lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana, has described the bail conditions granted the convener of #RevolutionNow protest and candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore as stringent. Falana, counsel to Sowore condemned the conditions in its entirety.
Delivering ruling on Sowore’s bail application on Friday, Justice Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, ordered that the defendant must produce three sureties including a highly respected Jewish leader and a highly placed Igbo person to stand as sureties.
The court also asked him to produce a respected person who resides and owns property in Abuja.
While directing that Sowore must not travel abroad without leave, the court ordered that each surety must deposit N100million.
Justice Ojukwu also held that Sowore must not attend any rally or grant an interview and must not be in a crowd exceeding 10 persons.
In addition, the court ordered the defendant to surrender his Nigerian and British passports, insisting he must be available for trial at all times.
Lamenting on the verdict, former minister of education, Oby Ezekwesili, accused the presidency of repression, saying the ruling is shameful.
In a tweet on Friday, Mrs Ezekwesili said she hoped the Department of State Services (DSS) would honour the bail if the conditions are met.
“Hopefully the DSS under the supervision of the Presidency will honor this Bail and release them. What kind of Bail of N150m is this? Is the idea to place a steep condition that @YeleSowore cannot meet? What a shame @NGRPresident . What a BIG shame to repress your citizen,” she said.
Also reacting on the ruling, a Lagos based lawyer, Monday Ubani, a Lawyer, said the court’s condition is restrictive.
“Why he is restricted to Abuja is not what I can understand. You give somebody bail and it seems as if the person is still in the prison. You are asking him that he should remain in Abuja. To me that is restrictive.
Ubani urged Sowore to apply for either variation of the condition or appeal the judgement.
“He should apply for variation of the bail condition. If it is not agreed, then he should appeal for the ruling. To me, the bail condition is very honourous. But we want to appreciate the Lord in the first place because that has actually shut up the mouths of those people who say because they mention treason or felony, you cannot grant bail.
“The issue of bail condition, if it is very honourous it becomes impossible to fulfill by the defendant, it does not amount to a bail. What the court should be interested in is to ensure that whoever that stands as surety will make sure that the accused is produced for trial.”
On his part, Debo Adeniran, Executive Director, Centre for Anti -Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), said “I don’t think all of that is necessary because Sowore should be given unconditional bail. From the inception, some of us have said that the arrest was unnecessary because the so-called call for revolution is not a call for violence and overthrow of the government and if someone is not planning to overthrow a government through a violent means, he has not committed treason. Nobody can commit treason with mere words.
Talking about revolution, revolution is a common word that can be used to express one’s desire for a change in ways he is being governed and everybody has the right to participate in the way he is being governed. There is no reason why the government should keep on holding him. The bail conditions should even be waivered because I believe that he cannot jump bail if he is allowed to go.”
Recall that the Federal Government had arraigned Sowore last Monday on a seven-count charge bordering on treasonable felony and money laundering allegations.
The government accused Sowore and Bakare of conspiracy to commit treasonable felony in breach of section 516 of the Criminal Code Act by allegedly staging “ a revolution campaign on September 5 , 2019 aimed at removing the President and Commander – in- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ”.
The prosecution also accused them of committing the actual offence of reasonable felony in breach of section , 4 ( 1) ( c ) of the Criminal Code Act , by using the platform of Coalition for Revolution , in August 2019 in Abuja , Lagos and other parts of Nigeria , to stage the # RevolutionNow protest allegedly aimed at removing the President.
Sowore’s ordeal started when he convened a nationwide protests against the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, tagged “RevolutionNow”.
He was arrested in the wee hours of Saturday August 3, in a hotel in Lagos by men of the DSS on account of the #RevolutionNow protest which he had spearheaded.
On August 8, Justice Taiwo Taiwo granted the DSS an ex parte order for the detention of Sowore for 45 days, pending conclusion of investigation on his activities.
However, a day to the expiration of the ex large order, the DSS filed charges against Sowore.
But on August 24, Justice Taiwo ordered the release of the defendant because, according to the judge, the order of detention made on August 8, had elapsed.
However, on Monday, the defendant, charged along side Adebayo Bakare pleaded not guilty to the charges.
When the charges were read out to him, he pleaded guilty out rightly to some and feigned ignorance of the implications of others and had to wait for his lawyer’s prompting to plead not guilty.
Reading the first charge, the defendants agreed to understanding count 1 and both pleaded not guilty.
“I am pleading not guilty based on the advice of my lawyer right now”, he said to one of the charges.
“I am confused. I don’t understand or even know how to transfer money from UBA to Citigroup Bank and then, to Sahara Reporters”, Sowore responded to count five.
Meanwhile, an oral bail application by Adeyinka Olumidefisika was made for the second defendant but was rejected by the presiding judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja. (Daily Independent)
