*Says Treasonable felony, not a capital offence
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, SAN, has said
that treasonable felony is not a capital offence and has always and
those accused under it have always enjoyed bail.
The learned Silk made this statement on Sunday reacting to the
story making rounds that DSS will report Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the
Federal High Court Abuja to National Judicial Commission for giving
order in favour of the Convener of RevolutionNow, Omoleye
Sowore.
Falana, further stated that the report was designed to
blackmail and intimidate judges of Federal High Court in respect to
Sowore’s trial.
He also said that there was no ground to do so, as even such
bail had been granted under the most draconian governments in
Nigeria.
“I have since confirmed that the fictitious report is a figment
of the fecund imagination of the writer, Mr Akuntunde hence, the
report and the quotes therein were not credited to any named
official of the SSS but to some anonymous sources.
“However, in a desperate bid to divert public attention from the
contemptuous conduct of the SSS the federal government has
hurriedly pressurised the federal high court to assign the case for
the arraignment of Mr. Sowore.
“I wish to state without any fear of contradiction, that the
federal high court is competent to admit a person charged with a
capital offence to bail by virtue of section 161 of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015. But in this case, Mr.
Sowore has not been charged with a capital offence.
“Treasonable felony is not a capital offence under section 41 of
the Criminal Code. Even under the most brutal dictatorial regimes
in Nigeria our courts did not hesitate to uphold the fundamental
right of the victims of repression to personal liberty including
those who were charged with treasonable felony.
“Having regards to the facts and circumstances of this case, the
SSS cannot complain against the handling of the case by Justice
Taiwo who did not even entertain our application to quash the order
for Mr. Sowore’s detention for 45 days. We had wanted to show that
Mr. Sowore did not engage in any terrorist activity to warrant his
incarceration.
“In urging Nigerians to disregard the dubious report it ought to
be pointed out that Justice Taiwo has not been accused of any act
of judicial misconduct in ordering the conditional release of Mr.
Sowore from unlawful custody. After all, it was the SSS counsel,
Mr. Godwin Agbadua who withdrew his fresh motion ex parte motion
for an order to further detain him for 20 days.
“To that extent, the National Judicial Council has no power to
sanction a judicial officer for exercising his/her discretion
judiciously and judicially in an application for the bail of a
citizen. In other words, since the NJC is not an appellate court it
cannot review the order for the conditional release of Mr. Sowore
from illegal custody.”
“Finally, instead of joining the global campaign for the
release of Mr. Sowore from illegal custody as ordered by the
federal high court Mr. Akintunde 1 of The Nation newspaper has
colluded with the forces of reaction to intimidate the
Judiciary.
“But it is a mission that is bound to fail as no dictator has
ever suceeded in cowing the courts and the Nigerian people to
submission.