The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has condemned the flagrant disobedience of an order of the Federal High Court in Abuja, directing the release on bail of Omoyele Sowore by the Department of State Service (DSS).
Justice Taiwo Taiwo had, on September 24, 2019, made an order for Sowore’s release on conditions that he has long perfected.
But the DSS, holding the former presidential aspirant has refused to release him from their custody as ordered by the court.
The NBA, in a statement made available to newsmen yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kunle Edun noted that the “DSS is cutting for herself the notorious image of an agency that enjoys treating judicial process with disdain, particularly as it pertains to obeying orders of courts enforcing the fundamental rights of Nigerians.”
According to the statement, the continued detention of Omoyele Sowere by the DSS amounts to a violation of his constitutional rights to personal liberty.
The NBA, therefore, called on the DSS to release Sowore in terms of the order of the Federal High Court made on the 24th September 2019, and other Nigerians who have been languishing in DSS detention centres without any charge.
In the same vein, a Warri based public affairs commentator, Ishmael Rufus, has cautioned the judiciary against sacrificing national interest on the altar of freedom of expression.
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Rufus, while reacting to the recent bail granted to the Sahara Reporters publisher and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 election, insisted that the judiciary must accord due priority to the national security interest in considering bail for capital offence suspects.
Rufus told newsmen on Sunday that, “National interest should not be trivialized” and recalled what happened in the cases of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and leader of Shiites, Ibrahim El Zakzaky, when they where granted bail and leave respectively and the federal government refused to obey the decision of the court.
He further argued that “whether the actions of Sowore fall within such limitations will be decided by the court in due course.
“However, if freedom of expression is left unfettered, it is certain to be abused,” he argued.
Recall that Sowore had been in the custody of the DSS for 45 days following his arrest on August 3, for planning a nationwide protest tagged “RevolutionNow”.
A day before the expiration of the ex parte order, the DSS charged him with offences of treasonable felony, money laundering, terrorism and plots to overthrow President Muhammadu Buhari.
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