Treasonable Felony: Court Remands Sowore, Co-defendant In DSS Custody
The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, ordered that the convener of RevolutionNow protest, Mr. Omoyele Sowore should be remanded in custody of the Department of State Service, DSS, till Friday when it will hear his bail application.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu remanded Sowore and his co-defendant, Olawale Adebayo Bakare (aka Mandate), shortly after they pleaded not guilty to a seven-count charge the Federal Government preferred against them.
Though the court initially asked the defendants to choose between Kuje and Suleja prisons, Sowore’s lawyer, Mr. Olumide Fusika, SAN, prayed the court to allow them to remain in the custody of the DSS till the next adjourned date.
Meanwhile, immediately he was being ushered out of the courtroom, Sowore made a move to address the press, but was roughly dragged away by DSS operatives.
He, however, kept chanting and urging Nigerians to rise against bad governance, as he was being whisked away by security agents amid protest from some of his supporters that attended the proceeding. Sowore had after he mounted the dock, declined to enter their plea to the charge, challenging the legal propriety of his arraignment when the DSS refused to obey an order the court made for his immediate release from detention.
Sowore, who was the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, in the last general election and publisher of an online media platform, Sahara Reporters, has been in detention since August 2 when he was arrested for calling for a nationwide protest against perceived maladministration by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
In the charge marked FHC/ ABJ/CR/235/2019, FG accused of conspiracy, money laundering, cyber-stalking and insulting President Buhari.
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