Malami Cannot Wash His Hands Off Sowore’s Detention, Says Falana SAN

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has insisted that the
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr
Abubakar Malami SAN, cannot wash his hands off with respect to the
illegal detention of Omoyele Sowore by the Department of State
Security Service (DSS) contrary to an earlier position.

Mr. Malami In a statement on Monday said that the Federal
Government is guided by extant laws and tradition of the law in
handling legal matters and related litigations.

In response, Mr Falana who is the legal representative of Mr
Sowore, convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, stressed that
since Mr Malami took over the criminal case from the DSS, he is
deemed to possess “the constitutional powers in full and the
responsibility for any decision thereupon rests solely on him.”

Mr Falana who had written to the AGF, to direct the DSS to
release Sowore on bail, in compliance with the order of the trial
judge, the Honourable Justice Ifeoma Ojukwu, stated that Mr Malami
needs to take cognizance of the legal implications of taking over a
pending criminal case in exercise of the powers of an
Attorney-General under the common law and the Constitution.

“Since Mr. Malami has taken over the case of FRN v Sowore v
Another he is deemed to possess “the constitutional powers in full
and the responsibility for any decision thereupon rests solely on
him. Therefore, he cannot like Pontius Pilate wash off his hands
with respect to the illegal detention of Sowore by the State
Security Service.

“Furthermore, since section 287 of the Constitution has imposed
a legal obligation on all authorities and persons in Nigeria to
comply with the decisions of all competent courts the
Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Malami is duty-bound to
direct the State Security Service to release Sowore on bail in
compliance with the valid and subsisting order of the federal high
court.”

While quoting the AGF in his response, Mr. Falana reiterated and
called for the release of Mr Sowore.

“In the said statement the Attorney-General stated that ‘When
parties submit their issues for determination to a court of law,
they lack exclusivity of decision over such issues without recourse
to the court. We remain guided by the established tradition and
will not take a unilateral decision without recourse to the rule of
law’.

“We fully agree with the Attorney-General because he has stated
the law correctly. On the basis of the legal principle, we are
compelled to call on the Attorney-General to reverse the
“unilateral decision” of the State Security Service to continue to
incarcerate Sowore ‘without recourse to law’.

“Having taken over the prosecution of the case pursuant to
section 174 of the Constitution the Attorney-General should not
hesitate to direct the State Security Service to release Sowore
without any further delay.”