Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the charges of treasonable felony against Omoyele Sowore, the former Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC). The Federal Government had previously filed a notice of discontinuance through the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, last week.
In the notice, Fagbemi stated, “By virtue of the power conferred on me under Section 174 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, Section 107 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, and all other powers enabling me in that behalf, I, Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, SAN, intend to discontinue charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/235/2019.”
As a result, the treasonable felony charge against Sowore, the convener of the #RevolutionNow protest, was struck out during the court proceedings today. Justice Nwite emphasized that the court was obligated to strike out the charge since the case was commencing afresh before him, leading to the dismissal of the charges.
Furthermore, the Federal High Court in Abuja directed the Department for State Services (DSS) to return three phones, a passport, N10,000, and a phone belonging to the second defendant, which were taken from Sowore.
This development follows the arrest of Sowore and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, in 2019 after organizing the “Revolution Now” protest rally in Abuja.
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