Short Of Sureties? By Abiodun Gboyega – TheNigerialawyer

Abiodun Gboyega writes that Sowore will be let out if the bail
conditions are perfected

“Considering the pedigree of the first defendant as observed in
his application, it is rather unfortunate that no one is willing to
stand as his surety on those terms. On the other hand, it creates
an assumption that despite the pedigree of the first defendant,
none of his best associates is willing to stand for him. This poses
a cause for concern.”

Those were the candid words of Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, the judge
who presided over the case of Omoyele Sowore, while ruling on the
application for variation of conditions for his bail after
observing that he had not met the bail conditions granted to him.
It is intriguing that this noteworthy comment was not as widely
reported in the media as one would expect, especially in the
context of the on-going sensationalized coverage of the issue of
alleged refusal of the DSS authorities to release Sowore on bail in
compliance with court order.

Equally remarkable is the loud silence of the usually vociferous
lead counsel to Sowore, Femi Falana, on the issue of Sowore’s
sureties whose identities and whereabouts remain a mystery to the
general public. Even supposedly well-informed commentators and
newspaper editorials have continued to denounce the DSS for holding
onto Sowore, deliberately ignoring its spokesman’s repeated
unequivocal reference to the routine and logical due process
requirement for those who stood as sureties for Sowore to come and
be on record to receive him on bail from DSS custody.

In the ensuing melodrama that climaxed when a busload of
Sowore’s associates attempted to demand his release in a protest at
the DSS headquarters in Abuja, Femi Falana consistently evaded the
needful role of Sowore’s sureties in taking over responsibility for
him on bail from DSS custody. Instead, he resorted to sending
lawyers to the DSS and repeating accusations that the DSS was
defying court order for release of Sowore on bail in response to
which the DSS spokesman retorted: “Sowore was granted bail and we
say that he is in our custody. Do we bring Sowore out to the gate
and ask him to go?’ What if Sowore was going on the road and he was
knocked down by a car? People who should take Sowore and do proper
documentation have not come up until now”.

Interestingly, the Punch on November 4 quoted Inibehe Effiong,
one of Sowore’s lawyers saying “we are in the process of perfecting
his bail” in a report that Sowore had rejected an offer by Apostle
Johnson Suleman, President Omega Worldwide Fire Ministries to stand
surety for him even though Sowore himself, using a phone given him
by DSS, told Premium Times from custody, that the demand for his
sureties was an attempt to intimidate them into pulling out, adding
“their aim is to intimidate my sureties by subjecting them to undue
maltreatment”.

From all indications, there is no assurance regarding the status
of Sowore’s sureties in the public domain except for the undisputed
fact that they have not turned up at the DSS headquarters to
receive him on bail. Notwithstanding Femi Falana’s insistence on
the supposed legality of DSS handing him over to his lawyers, the
precedence set in the case of Nnamdi Kanu of IPOB, who was bailed
by his well-known sureties before escaping from the country and
jeopardizing his sureties, would definitely serve as a forewarning
to the DSS against disregarding the responsibility of the sureties
as endorsed by the court.

It would also serve the cause of public interest and
accountability better if the Sowore sureties would rise to the
occasion by speaking out, if not showing up, to explain their
hesitation or refusal to do the needful for Sowore in his hour of
need, rather than leaving the matter in a contest of convincing
contentions that the DSS is clearly on top as long as the sureties
remain in the shadows.

Merely shifting the arena from the court to the media has not
played out as a legal leverage in favour of the main issue of
getting Sowore out on bail which should be the ultimate objective
of Femi Falana and his learned colleagues. The propaganda dividend
that seems to massage the bloated egos of the human rights and
pro-democracy “activists” as they maraud the politicians’ paradise
is grossly devalued by lack of grassroots sureties and soon fizzles
out as both Sowore and Falana know from aborted presidential and
governorship ambitions respectively.

Justice Ojukwu’s concerns as to why Sowore was having challenges
in getting sureties, either considering or despite his pedigree “as
observed in his application for bail” should have been overcome by
now especially by “his best associates”, none of whom was willing
to stand for him. It is odd for a former presidential candidate who
has conjured a larger than life impression of his popularity to be
left in the lurch in the manner described by Justice Ojukwu.

Mercifully, the DSS custodial hostels are comfort zones and
Sowore had been accorded respect and courtesy enjoying access to
people and use of facilities like telephones, gymnasium,
television, newspapers and medical treatment while his sureties
(and lawyers) sort themselves out. Meanwhile, it is no less a
matter of concern that even out of circulation, Sowore is stirring
the political atmosphere in the country with a make-believe fiasco
over sureties that cannot be identified and will not even join in
accusing the DSS of defying “lawful order” to let them take him
home!

Gboyega wrote from Lagos