The federal government has dropped the treasonable felony charge brought against Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters.
Lateef Fagbemi, the Federation’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, announced the development in a document.
The document was addressed to the Federal High Court of Nigeria’s Abuja Division.
It also revealed the government’s intention to drop the case against Sowore’s co-defendant, Olawale Bakare aka Mandate.
The document stated,
“Between the Federal Republic of Nigeria (complainant) and Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare aka Mandate (defendants).”
“Notice of discontinuance. By virtue of the power conferred on me under Section 174 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, Section 107 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Aet 2015 and all other powers enabling me on that behalf, I, Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, SAN intend to discontinue Charge No FHC/ABI/CR/235/2019.
“Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.”
Sowore was apprehended by DSS agents on August 3, 2019, two days before a planned #RevolutionNow protest dubbed “Days of Rage,” organised by the pro-democracy activist and scheduled for August 5, 2019.
Following his arrest, the DSS arraigned him several times before releasing him after sustained pressure.
Sowore was represented in court by the law firm of Femi Falana, SAN, a pro-democracy and human rights activist.
Sowore plans to sue the Federal Government and the Department of State Services for ₦1 billion in damages for time, resources, mental and financial trauma, and the alleged assassination of his younger brother, Olajide Sowore, in 2021.
In an exclusive telephone interview with PUNCH on Thursday, he revealed the development.
The pro-democracy activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress stated that he would sue the FG in both Nigeria and the United States for all of the trauma and pains inflicted on him while he was detained and later confined within Nigeria for approximately five years.
Sowore said,
“I’m not supposed to be congratulated because the Federal Government had now decided to discontinue the treasonable felony case against me. I didn’t commit any crime, they only decided to waste my time and the resources of the country.
“But we’re not giving up. I will sue the Federal Government of Nigeria and the DSS for ₦1billion 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 now confined to Nigeria while they seized my passport.”