- Again, DSS to Arraign Sowore Next Week
Four days after a Federal High Court in Abuja granted the convener of RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore, bail, the Department of State Service (DSS) has refused to release him.
According to Guardian, sources within the DSS said the agency was not in rush to let Sowore go, saying: “We are aware of the court order, but we are still keeping him to be arraigned next week on charges that Nigerians will know of when he gets to court.”
Sowore’s counsel, Femi Falana, had said the DSS filed new charges against Sowore last week, seeking to detain him for another 20 days. However, Justice Taiwo Taiwo who presided over the case granted Sowore bail, saying the DSS can not continue to detain until a competent court presided over the new charges.
Four days after the judgement, Sowore remains in the Custody as the DSS is currently perfecting plans to arraign him again while still detention.
In order to continue to detain him unlawfully, the DSS had said it did not receive court order granting Sowore bail, a statement immediately refuted by Mr. Femi Falana.
“We were not directed to serve them. But we did that for the avoidance of doubt. We submitted his passports, got the affidavit of compliance and I personally served them,” Falana stated.
Meanwhile, Anya Schiffrin, the Director, Media, Technology and Advocacy Specialisation, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, lamented Sowore’s continued detention despite meeting bail conditions.
In her speech delivered at the on-going Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Hamburg, Germany, she said: “Mr. Sowore is a world-renowned journalist. He has pioneered new and important avenues in the field of investigative journalism.
“In addition, he is the founder of the well-known online investigative news outlet, Sahara Reporters, that focuses on corruption and political misconduct.
“Many colleagues in the worlds of journalism and academia hold Mr. Sowore in great esteem for his life-long effort in speaking truth to power.“After Sowore had spent more than six weeks in jail, on September 24, a Federal High Court Judge, Justice Taiwo Taiwo, granted Sowore bail and asked Sowore to surrender his passport pending his trial.”