The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, struck out the treasonable felony charges filed by the Federal Government against activist and publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, and Olawale Bakare, alias Mandate.
Justice Emeka Nwite struck out the charges following a nolle prosequi or Notice of Discontinuance filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
The charges were instituted against Sowore and Mandate by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari following their planned nationwide protest tagged #Revolution Now in 2019.
Ahead of the planned protest, Sowore and Mandate were picked up in Lagos in a midnight raid by the Department of State Services.
The Buhari government said it believed the planned #Revolution Now protest was aimed at destabilising the government or taking over power by violence after Sowore, who was the candidate of the African Action Congress, lost out in the 2019 presidential election that Buhari won.
At the Monday proceedings in court, an Assistant Chief State Counsel, Federal Ministry of Justice A.R. Tahir, urged the court to approve the Notice of Discontinuance filed by the AGF.
Counsel for the defendants, Femi Falana (SAN), confirmed receiving the Notice of Discontinuance and appreciated the AGF for his action.
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 will fall.”
Falana urged the court to order the DSS to return Sowore’s phone and other items seized 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 ruling, Justice Nwite struck out the charges and ordered that all items seized from them by the DSS be returned.
Sowore had in response to the nolle prosequi last week slammed Buhari for what he described as his “idiosyncratic treason trial.”
He vowed to institute an N100bn lawsuit for what he considered his malicious trial by the government.
“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 N3m 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.”
