Falana to sue DSS for contempt over Sowore’s continued detention

By ‘Kunle ADEBAJO

SENIOR Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has said his
legal team, representing Publisher of Sahara Reporters and Convener
of the Revolution Now protests, Omoyele Sowore, will file contempt
charges against the Department of State Services (DSS) on
Tuesday.

In an interview^[1] with
Channels TV on Monday, the human rights lawyer said the aim of the
contempt proceedings is to compel the DSS Director-General, Yusuf
Bichi, to justify in court why the agency has disobeyed orders
directing that his client be released.

“And if he is unable to release them, what the law requires is
that he should be sent to prison because nobody is above the law in
Nigeria. We either run the government under the rule of law or
under martial law,” he added.

Falana also said the DSS is prepared to release Sowore and his
co-defendant, Olawale Bakare.

“I was reliably informed last night by a security official that
the government is currently fishing for evidence,” he said.

“An attempt is being made to file a fresh charge on Tuesday so
that there will be an excuse that ‘we are arraigning them in court,
hence we are unable to release them’. If you recall, that was what
was done when Justice Taiwo Taiwo granted Mr Sowore bail on the
24th of September. For a whole week, the order of the court was
flouted. And then, of course, on the 30th he was arraigned together
with Mr Bakare.

“We are ready for them,” he maintained. Asides the contempt
proceedings, Falana said his legal team also has plans to file an
application under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure)
Rules to challenge “the illegal detention of Mr Sowore a week
before an illegal order was procured to detain him for 45
days”.

Rights activist and convener of the Concerned Nigerians group
has said he would lead a delegation to the DSS headquarters in
Abuja on Tuesday “to receive both Sowore and Bakare”.

“Despite the embarrassing and unprofessional statement credited
to the DSS, Nigerians, comprising activists, lawyers, families,
friends and other citizens came out on Saturday morning to receive
the duo. As expected but quite unfortunate, the DSS yet again
failed to release them, under the excuse that we came on a
weekend,” he said in a statement on Monday.

Timeline of Omoyele Sowore’s arrest and
detention:

August 1: Sowore announces plan
for a nationwide protest to take place on August 5 in 21
states.

August 2: At about 11 pm, Sowore
is arrested by DSS operatives.

August 8: Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the
Federal High Court grants DSS’s request to detain Sowore
for 45 days.

August 28: Vacation judge, Justice Nkeonye
Maha, declines to grant Sowore’s motion challenging
45-day detention.

September
16: Sowore applies again for bail.

September 21: Federal
government files charges against Sowore including
allegations of treasonable felony, insulting the president,
and money laundering.

September 24: Justice
Taiwo grants Sowore’s bail application.

September 26: Federal High
Court insists on Sowore’s release, threatens to hold DSS
DG in contempt.

September 30: Justice Ijeoma
Ojukwu orders that Sowore, co-defendant be remanded in
DSS custody after pleading not guilty to seven counts of treason,
cyberstalking, insulting the president, money laundering, etc.

October 4: Justice
Ojukwu grants bail to Sowore in the sum of N100 million
and two sureties.

November 6: Falana says Sowore
has met bail conditions and should be released that day.

November 8: DSS says it has
received court order to release Sowore but “no person has turned up
… to take delivery of him.”

SERAP writes Archbishop of Canterbury, Buhari’s Friend
over Sowore’s case

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) has
sent an open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Most Revd
Justin Portal Welby urging him to use his good offices and
leadership and his “friendship with President Muhammadu Buhari to
prevail on him to obey court orders most recently involving
activists Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare who remain in arbitrary
detention despite a court order for their release.”

SERAP expressed “serious concerns about the disturbing trends by
state governments and federal government to use the court as a tool
to suppress citizens’ human rights.”

In the letter dated 11 November 2019 and signed by SERAP deputy
director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “We believe you
can use your leadership position and influence to persuade
President Buhari to promote the rule of law in words and in action
by obeying all court orders including the order for the releasing
of Mr Sowore and Mr Bakare from arbitrary detention.”

SERAP also said, “As the senior bishop and principal leader of
the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican
Communion, we believe you can reaffirm your belief in justice, rule
of law and the basic human rights of all people by speaking out
with a strong voice against the repeated disobedience of court
orders and the implicitly lack of respect by the government for the
integrity and authority of the Nigerian judiciary.”

The letter read in part: “Taking a stance on the issues of the
rule of law and respect for court orders in Nigeria will also
contribute to ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law
by the 36 state governments in Nigeria, as these governments seem
to be taking their cue from the federal authorities regarding
disobedience of court orders.”

“Journalist and activist Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare are
facing trial on seven counts of treasonable felony, fraud,
cyber-stalking and insulting President Muhammadu Buhari, simply for
exercising their human rights. Mr Sowore, was arrested on August 3
by Nigeria’s State Security Service (SSS) for planning a
protest.”

“Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu granted Sowore and Bakare bail but the
security agents have continued to refuse to release them despite
being served with the court orders. This refusal implicitly
violates the defendants’ constitutional rights to presumption of
innocence.”

“We therefore respectfully call on you to speak out on the
repeated disobedience of court orders by the government of
President Muhammadu Buhari and urge him to obey all court orders
including the orders for the release of Mr Sowore and Mr Bakare
from arbitrary detention.”

Specifically, SERAP asked Most Revd Justin Portal Welby to:

• Clearly and publicly condemn lack of respect for the rule of
law and court orders in Nigeria

• Call for the release of Mr Sowore and Mr Bakare from detention
as ordered by the court

• Call for greater legal protections for human rights activists
and journalists in Nigeria who are simply exercising their right to
freedom of expression and working to hold their leaders to
account.

Kolawole Oluwadare
SERAP Deputy Director