A Notice of Discontinuance stamped by the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday and signed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) on Wednesday, said the complainant (Federal Government of Nigeria) would discontinue the case.
The Nigerian government has discontinued its case against #RevolutionNow convener, Omoyele Sowore over alleged treason.
A Notice of Discontinuance stamped by the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday and signed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) on Wednesday, said the complainant (Federal Government of Nigeria) would discontinue the case.
The notice reads, “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.”
SaharaReporters reported on Wednesday that Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had again threatened to strike out the farcical treason charge filed against the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 and 2023 general elections, Omoyele Sowore, if the Nigerian government was not ready to go on with the case five years after.
The judge handed down the warning on Wednesday at the resumed hearing of the case.
The case which was slated for trial could not go on as the 1st defendant could not take his plea following the announcement of the new prosecution lawyer, A.Y Tahir, who said that she would be taking over the case on the ground that the lawyer handling the case initially had been transferred out of the Ministry of Justice.
She therefore requested an adjournment to enable her to study and be abreast of the case.
The application was objected to by the defence counsel, Marshal Abubakar on the ground that the prosecution was playing to the gallery to waste the time of the court.
Marshal argued that the prosecution had applied for five adjournments since the case had started de novo. He urged the court to strike out the case because the Nigerian government was not ready with the case but only bent on keeping his client in the country in perpetuity.
He said his client, who is the 1st defendant in the case, had been confined within the country for five years and had not been able to visit his family in the United States.
Meanwhile, the counsel for the 2nd defendant, Olumide Fusika who was represented by a lawyer apologised over the absence of his client in the court stating that they could not reach him since he was re-arrested inside court.
At that point, Marshal interjected and told the court that the Department of State Services (DSS) whisked away the second defendant on December 6, 2019, when their operatives invaded Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu's court. He added that since then, they could not account for his whereabouts.
The prosecution counsel while responding urged the court to issue a bench warrant on the 2nd defendant since they could not locate him.
The presiding judge who was not comfortable with the flimsy excuses and the tactics on the part of the prosecution, said he would have no option but to strike out the case if the prosecution was not ready for the case.
He told the prosecutor to either produce the 2nd defendant on the next adjourned date or go on with the prosecution of the 1st defendant and failure to do any of these, he would strike out the case.
He therefore adjourned the case to April 15, 2024.
Some of Sowore’s supporters who thronged the court called on President Bola Tinubu’s government to end the sham trial against the activist, adding that he had not committed any offence known to law.
Some of the inscriptions on their placards read; #FreeSowore, #EndShamTrial, #JailBuhari, ##JailElectionRiggers, #JailEmefiele and many others.
A human rights crusader, Deji Adeyanju and the Secretary Board of Trustees African Action Congress, Ogochukwu Okoro were also in court in solidarity with the activist.