A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Department of State Service, DSS to release Mr. Omoyele Sowore, and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, within the next 24hours.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu who gave the order on Thursday, December 5, 2019 at the scheduled commencement of the defendants’ trial on charges of treasonable felony stated that the DSS had no justifiable reason to continue to hold the defendants in custody, after she signed the warrants for the release of the defendants from custody.
The prosecuting counsel, Hassan Liman (SAN), had insisted that the DSS did not refuse to comply with the order of the court.
He insisted that no order of the court has been violated, adding that none will be violated.
According to him, the prosecution don’t even want the defendants in their custody.
The trial judge Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu asked him why have they not been released, a question which left him tongue-tied.
She insisted that she signed the bail order and she does not understand why it has not been complied with.
Justice Ojukwu said the matter will not continue, adding that since today’s matter is adjourned at their instance she will award a cost of 100,000 against the prosecution.
“The failure of the prosecution to carry out the order of the court to serve the defence and in view if this adjournment is at the instance of the prosecution and in view of section 396 of ACJA, I will award the cost of 100,000 against the prosecution and in view of the refusal of the prosecution to release the defendant this court will give the prosecution the next 24 hours to comply with the order of court,” she said.
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Justice Ojukwu insisted that the law cannot change for anybody and all must respect the law.
The case has been adjourned to the 6th of December for a report on the court’s order.
Meanwhile, a group of half-naked women, numbering about 30 were seen storming the Court to protest the continued illegal detention of Sowore by the DSS.
The women who were said to be from the Sahara reporters founder’s hometown in Kiribo, Ese-Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State, were dressed in white wrappers and bra but with no clothes covering the rest of the upper parts of their bodies.
The protesting women who arrived in the court environment after the proceedings started on Thursday, were not allowed entry into the court premises.
But they stayed by the gate brandishing their placards with various inscriptions calling for Sowore’s release and only departed long after the proceedings had ended and Sowore with his co-detainee returned to custody by the DSS operatives.
In their Apoi dialect the women, many of them with grey hair, described themselves as beneficiaries of Sowore philanthropic gestures and appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to release their son from custody.
Yetunde Adegoke
