After saying he’ll take over the prosecution of Sowore from the DSS, the Attorney-General of the Federation later said he could not ask the DSS to release him.
The AGF had on Friday, December 13, 2019, announced that he had taken over the prosecution of Sowore from the DSS.
With the AGF taking over the case, Sowore’s camp had hoped that the activist would be released from custody, but the minister later announced that he could not ask the DSS to release the activist.
On Friday, December 6, 2019, Sowore was re-arrested within 24 hours of being released from a detention that lasted 124 days.
The Publisher of Sahara Reporters has now been detained again for two weeks without fresh charge instituted against him.
Reacting to his re-arrest, Femi Falana, Sowore’s lead counsel said the continued detention of his client is illegal.
The layer said there was no warrant of arrest issued for the activist’s re-arrest or any court order to justify his continued detention, Punch reports.
The DSS first arrested Sowore and his co-defendants Olawale Bakare on Saturday, August 3, 2019, over their planned protests tagged ‘RevolutionNow: Day f Rage”.
Following their arrest, the activists were charged with treasonable felony among other offences.
However, ruling on the application, which was moved by one of Sowore’s lawyers, Marshal Abubakar on Tuesday, December 17, 2019, Justice Inyang Ekwo, said he needed to hear from both Sowore and Bakare before taking a decision on the request for the “unconditional release” of the former, Punch reports.
The judge, therefore, adjourned the case till December 23.
However, while reacting to Malami’s inability to ask the DSS to release Sowore, Falana said the AGF was duty-bound to ask the agency to release the activist from the “illegal” custody of the DSS.
According to Punch, the lawyer said Malami could not wash his hands off the “illegal detention” of Sowore.
Credit: Pulse
