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DSS Acting As Thugs, Sowore’s Sureties Have No Business With Security Agency, Says Inibehe Effiong

November 14, 2019

“It is contemptuous for the SSS to ask sureties that have already been verified by the Federal High Court to submit themselves again to its own verification,” the lawyer stated.

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Barrister Inibehe Effiong, one of the counsels of Omoyele Sowore in the case against the Department of State Services says the sureties of Sowore has no business with the secret police as they are only answerable to the court.

Effiong said this in reaction to a statement by the DSS on why Sowore has yet to be released.

The DSS had claimed Sowore remained in its custody because those who came for his release “are not directly concerned with the matter and therefore unqualified”.

The security agency added, “It is only appropriate that those who stood surety for Sowore present themselves and have him released to them.”

Meanwhile, Effiong stated that the DSS' demand was against the court order, noting that the law only requires sureties to appear when a defendant is given administrative bail.

“The SSS is sitting on appeal over Sowore's bail by asking us to produce his sureties. The sureties have no business with the SSS. They're only answerable to the court; not a lawless agency. The court has already verified them. SSS should stop this thuggish behaviour.

“Asking Sowore to present his sureties has no basis in law, and I will like any lawyer in this country to tell me under what law the SSS is making this demand. Is the SSS saying that it can only release Sowore on administrative bail when the court has already ordered his release?

“It is contemptuous for the SSS to ask sureties that have already been verified by the Federal High Court to submit themselves again to its own verification,” the lawyer stated.

He vowed that the legal team would not bow to executive dictatorship.

He also pointed out that it was insulting for the DSS to “accuse our lead counsel, Mr. Femi Falana SAN, of playing to the gallery,” adding that “it is actually the SSS and the executive arm of government that is playing to the gallery".

Effiong demanded the DSS to immediately put an end to its lawless grandstanding and comply with the court order.

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Legal