Sowore and Bakare Discharged of Treasonable Felony Charges by Federal High Court
The Federal High Court in Abuja has discharged Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare of alleged treasonable felony charges brought against them by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
Justice Emeka Nwite, presiding over the case, ruled in favor of the defendants after counsel for the AGF, A.R. Tahir, withdrew the charge, leading to the striking out of the matter.
During the hearing, Justice Nwite ordered the Department of State Service (DSS) to release three phones and the sum of N10,000 seized from Sowore during his arrest, as well as a phone belonging to Bakare and the sum of N1,500 confiscated from him.
The case, which was originally before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu in 2019, was reassigned to Justice Nwite after Ojukwu was transferred to another jurisdiction. The Federal Government had accused Sowore and Bakare of treason and attempts to overthrow former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
The AGF, in a notice of discontinuance dated Feb. 14, but filed Feb. 15, informed the court of the decision to withdraw the case, citing powers conferred on the AGF by the 1999 Constitution and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.
In response, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, representing Sowore and Bakare, argued that the case had been partly heard before Justice Ojukwu and should be dismissed. However, Tahir disagreed, stating that the matter started afresh before Justice Nwite after reassignment.
In his ruling, Justice Nwite upheld Tahir’s argument and struck out the charge, noting that the AGF had the power to discontinue a matter at any stage of a criminal proceeding.
The Guardian
