JUST IN: Sowore: DSS blocks two attempts by court bailiff to re-serve court order

The Department of State Service has twice on Friday blocked a
bailiff of the Federal High Court in Abuja from effecting a fresh
service of the court order for the release of the convener of
#RevolutionNow protest Omowole Sowore.

It was learnt that the bailiff first arrived the DSS
headquarters in Abuja, where he (Sowore) had been held since August
3, 2019, around 9.30 a.m. on Friday, but was asked to return by 12
noon when the Director-General of DSS, Yusuf Bichi, would be
around.

But it was learnt that the bailiff returned to the DSS
headquarters at 12.14 p.m. on Friday, but was denied access.

One of Sowore’s lawyer, Sam Ogala, who was at the main gate of
the DSS office during the bailiff’s attempt to serve the security
agency, confirmed the development to our correspondent.

Sowore’s legal team led by Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), had on
Thursday expressed shock over DSS’ claim that it had not been
served with the order issued by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal
High Court in Abuja granting bail to Sowore.

On Thursday, after DSS’ spokesperson denied that the agency had
been served with the court order, Falana said, Ayuba Adam of the
Legal Department of the DSS received the court order on behalf of
the agency on September 24, 2019 (Tuesday).

The DSS’ denial came after news broke that Sowore’s legal team
had commenced a contempt suit against the DSS boss for failing to
comply with the court order for Sowore’s release.

The DSS, on August 3, arrested Sowore, the publisher of
SaharaReporters and former presidential candidate in the 2019
general elections over his call for a revolution protest scheduled
to hold on August 5.

Justice Taiwo, on August 8, granted an ex parte application by
the DSS permitting the security agency to keep the activist for 45
days.

The 45 days period expired on Saturday.

Barely 24 hours to the expiration of the 45-day detention order,
the Attorney-General of the Federation’s office filed charges of
treasonable felony, cybercrime offences and money laundering
against him before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

On Tuesday, following Falana’s application, Justice Taiwo
ordered the release of Sowore, from the custody of the DSS pending
his arraignment in court.

The judge ordered him to submit his passport in the court’s
registry as the sole condition for the bail.

Sowore’s lawyers have said that the terms of his bail have since
been fulfiled, however, he has yet to be released.

YIAGA Deploys 48 Observers for Bayelsa, Kogi
Polls

The Bayelsa and Kogi elections is anticipated to be keenly
contested, with a lot of expectations from all election
stakeholders and it becomes pertinent to engage the process from
the pre-election period. Having Observed the Political party
primaries in both Bayelsa and Kogi and States, YIAGA AFRICA’s
Watching The Vote (WTV) project has concluded that training and has
deployed 48 Long Term Observers (LTO) to observe the pre-election
environment. Out of the 48 Long terms observers who all resident of
the Local Government they are observing from, 21 are deployed in
Bayelsa State 27 are deployed in Kogi State.

The Long Term Observers are also expected to recruit polling
unit observers from sampled polling units that will observe the
governorship election on November 16th, in both states. The Long
Term observes who also double as Local Government Supervisors are
deployed to each of the 8 Local Government Areas in the Bayelsa
State and the 21 Local government areas in Kogi State to report on
events, activities and critical incidents using a specialized
checklist and critical incident form. The observation reports from
the field are sent in form of coded SMS to the WTV Data Center
bi-weekly commencing from September 13th, 2019, while the critical
incidents are sent in as they occur and properly escalated after
verification.

YIAGA AFRICA’S Watching The Vote Pre-Election observers will
observe issues related to the; activities of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) ranging from recruitment and
training of ad hoc personnel, identification of polling units,
meeting with stakeholders, voter education and information
campaigns to the collection and distribution of Permanent Voters
Card, activities of political parties like rallies and campaigns,
activities relating to security agencies and incidents capable of
undermining the electoral process. Pre-election observers will also
observe and report Voter information campaigns by National
Orientation Agency (NOA) and other Civil Society Organisations.

At YIAGA AFRICA, we believe and promote social justice and
inclusiveness thus voter education and campaigns targeted
specifically at Youths, Women and Persons With Disabilities (PWDs)
will be followed closely and duly reported by Observers during the
pre-election period. Even as political parties launch their
campaigns across the state, our election observation team are
interested in campaigns and rallies associated to various political
parties while also observing if youths, women and PWDs are also in
anyway canvassing for votes.

Through the Pre-Election observation, YIAGA AFRICA will track
early warning signs and any form of incident that can hinder the
successful conduct of the elections. In this vein, WTV
pre-elections observers will observe and report issues relating to
hate speech campaigns, intimidation and harassment of any electoral
stakeholder and attacks on media or INEC officials. LTOs will also
report government restrictions on political activities or
unjustifiable military influx into the state. This will enable
YIAGA AFRICA to verify and report this information to relevant
authorities for proper action. Pre-elections observation findings
will be shared to the public via various channels of communication
including social media.

As a civic hub dedicated to the promotion of electoral integrity
and credible elections and as an INEC accredited observer group,
YIAGA AFRICA will also be deploying citizens’ observers to observe
the Election Day activities. YIAGA AFRICA invites the people of
Bayelsa and Kogi States, Election Stakeholders and citizens to
follow the pre-election observation report and engage using the
findings of the reports.

Signed

Samson Itodo
YIAGA Africa, Executive Director

Moshood Isah
Media Officer | YIAGA AFRICA