I can’t ask DSS to release Sowore, says Malami

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, on Monday indicated that he could not ask the Department of State Services to release Omoyele Sowore from custody.

 The minister said in the statement he could not take a unilateral decision on the release of Sowore without recourse to the court, where the ‘RevolutionNow’ protests convener and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, were being prosecuted for treasonable felony, among others.

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 The minister’s declaration is contained in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr Umar Gwandu, who stated that Malami was reacting to “the claim that a lawyer sent a letter to the AGF requesting the release of Mr Sowore”.

 The statement appeared to be a veiled reference to the letter by Sowore’s lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), sent to the AGF on Friday to seek the release of the convener of ‘RevolutionNow’ protests from the custody of the DSS.

 Falana’s letter, dated December 13, 2019, reported by The PUNCH on Monday followed the Friday’s announcement by the AGF’s office that it had taken over the prosecution of the Sahara Reporters publisher and Bakare from the DSS.

The AGF’s takeover of the case followed the widely-condemned invasion of the Federal High Court in Abuja by the operatives of the DSS to re-arrest Sowore on December 6.

Falana, who heads the defence team of the two men, informed Malami that Sowore had, since his re-arrest on December 6, been kept in the DSS custody without detention order or arrest warrant.

But in a statement with veiled reference to Falana’s letter on Monday, Malami said in the statement issued by Gwandu, “When parties submit their issues for determination to a court of law, they lack exclusivity of decision over such issues without recourse to court.

“We remain guided by the established tradition and will not take unilateral decision without recourse to the rule of law.”

 The same court, the Federal High Court in Abuja, where Sowore and Bakare were charged, has granted bail to the two.

But the order for the release of Sowore was snubbed by the secret police organisation, whose operatives violently re-arrested him barely 24 hours of releasing him from a detention that lasted over four months.