Breaking: Judge Orders Nigerian Government to pay Omoyele Sowore, Bakare, over trial delay

Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Nigerian Government to pay N200,000 each to Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare, who are both standing trial in a case brought against them by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Ojukwu’s action was necessitated by the prosecution’s sloppy showing on Wednesday where A. Aliyu standing in for the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), tried to slow down proceedings and further delay the commencement of the trial proper by making several false statements.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the trial of the co-convener of Revolution Now, Omoyele Sowore, to February 13, 2020, for arraignment.

Nobel laureate Professor, Wole Soyinka, and a former Nigerian Senator Shehu Sani were at the Abuja High Court in solidarity with the convener of #RevolutionNow Protest, Omoyele Sowore.

Also, the former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Professor Chidi Odinkalu and popular activist Deji Adeyanju, are in court in solidarity with Sowore whose trial resumes today.

Sowore and co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, are facing trial over charges of a treasonable felony for organising the revolution now protest on August 5, 2019, which the government saw as an attempt to disrupt peace in the country.

The trial was stalled yesterday due to the absence of the presiding judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu. It was subsequently adjourned till February 12.

Sowore was arrested on August 3, 2019, by the Department of State Services (DSS) and was in custody until December 24, 2019, when he was eventually released on the orders of the Attorney General of the Federation who directed the DSS to comply with the orders of the court which granted him bail.