Femi Falana (SAN), counsel to Omoyele Sowore, the detained convener of #RevolutionNow, Wednesday, told a Federal High Court in Abuja, that his client has met the bail conditions imposed on him by the court in the treasonable felony trial he (Sowore) is facing.
Falana said Sowore and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, have met the bail conditions.
At the resumed proceedings yesterday, Falana requested an adjournment to enable him to prepare adequately for their defence.
He said the Department of State Security (DSS), whose custody the defendants are kept, has not allowed him free access to the defendants since they were detained. And that after they would have been freed later in the day, he would have quality time with them.
Falana told the court that he had explained to the prosecution “that we are encumbered by the refusal of the State Security Service to allow us to prepare for the defence of the defendants.
“I had already asked my learned counsel for the prosecution, that we are confident that the defendants will be freed today (Wednesday) from the custody of the SSS having met the bail conditions imposed on them by this honourable court.
“Once they are liberated from the custody of the SSS, we will be in a position to take full instruction from them.”
The prosecuting counsel, Hassan Liman (SAN), however, opposed the application for adjournment on the grounds that the charges were filed and served on the defendants since September 20.
He said the defendants had “ample time and opportunity to prepare for their defence”.
The DSS arrested Sowore in Lagos on August 2, 2019, following his call for revolution in a protest he organised to take place in some major cities on August 5 and was arraigned on Sept 21.
The Federal Government filed seven counts of treasonable felony and money laundering against him.
Sowore, the publisher of SaharaReporters and a presidential candidate in the February 2019 presidential election, was charged alongside Bakare.
The prosecution 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.
It also accused Sowore of cybercrime offences in violation of section 24(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Act, by “knowingly” sending “messages by means of press interview granted on Arise Television network which you knew to be false for the purpose of causing insult, enmity, hatred and ill-will on the person of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It also accused Sowore of money laundering offences in breach of section 15(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 by alleged transferring by means of swift wire.
The sums of money he was said to have been involved in the alleged transfers were the sums of $19,975 on April 2, 2019; $20,475 on May 21, 2019, $16,975 on June 27, 2019, and another $16,975 on July 16, 2019.
The charges were filed a day before the expiration of the detention order of the Federal High Court in Abuja permitting the Department of State Service to keep the activist for 45 days.
However, Justice Ojukwu granted bail to the defendants on October 4.
The judge granted Sowore bail in the sum of N100m with two sureties in like sum.
Justice Ojukwu also barred him from travelling outside Abuja, in addition to asking him to deposit N50m in the account of the court as security.
She granted Bakare bail in the sum of N50m with a surety in like sum.
He was barred from travelling out of his base in Osogbo, Osun State, except while coming for trial in Abuja.
The trial judge also barred the two men from talking to the press and participating in any form of protest pending the conclusion of their trial.
But on October 21, 2019, the defendants approached the court for a variation in the bail conditions on the ground of inability to meet the stringent bail conditions, which the court agreed.
