The Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the Federal Government’s treasonable felony accusations against Omoyele Sowore, an activist and publisher of SaharaReporters, and Olawale Bakare, also known as Mandate.
Justice Emeka Nwite dismissed the charges in response to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who filed a nolle prosequi, or Notice of Discontinuance.
The accusations were brought against Sowore and Mandate by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari following their planned statewide rally dubbed #RevolutionNow in 2019.
The Department of State Services apprehended Sowore and Mandate in Lagos at midnight, just before the planned rally.
The Buhari administration stated that the planned #RevolutionNow rally was intended to destabilise the government or seize power through violence after Sowore, the African Action Congress candidate, was defeated in the 2019 presidential election, which Buhari won.
At the Monday court sessions, A.R. Tahir, Assistant Chief State Counsel at the Federal Ministry of Justice, requested the court adopt the AGF’s Notice of Discontinuance.
Femi Falana (SAN), counsel for the defendants, verified receiving the Notice of Discontinuance and expressed gratitude to the AGF for his actions.
Falana said, “To that extent, the matter ought to be dismissed. I wish to appreciate the position of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, for taking a hint from this honourable court that this matter would be dismissed even if the heavens fall.”
Falana sought the court’s order to order the DSS to return Sowore’s phone and other items confiscated from him and Bakare.
Falana said, “In view of the withdrawal, we urge the court to order the State Security Services to return the telephones of Sowore and Bakare, the sum of N10,000 seized from him, while his passport as well as the title deed submitted for his bail in the court registry should be returned.”
In his verdict, Justice Nwite dismissed the charges and ordered that all goods seized by the DSS be returned.
Last Friday, in response to the nolle prosequi, Sowore criticised Buhari for his “idiosyncratic treason trial.”
He has pledged to file a N100 billion lawsuit against the government for what he considers a malicious trial.
“I will sue the Federal Government of Nigeria and the DSS for N100bn as compensation for the cost of time and resources, mental and financial trauma that they caused my person, my businesses, my wife and children, and my extended family, and also for the assassination of my brother, Olajide Sowore, during this five-year period that I was abducted, detained, and confined to Nigeria while they seized my passport.
“The Federal Government must also pay the N3 million that was awarded to me by the court as compensation during the course of the trial. And the DSS must return my passport and my mobile phones that were seized after I was arrested and detained since August 2019.”
