The Federal Government has withdrawn the treasonable felony charge it filed against a pro-democracy activist, Omoyele Sowore and Olawole Adebayo Bakare (aka Mandate).
The withdrawal of the charge followed a notice of discontinuance filed at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, where Sowore and his co-defendant are being prosecuted on charge number, FHC/ABJ/CR/235/2019.
The Notice of Discontinuance, dated February 15, 2023, was signed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
The Notice of discontinuance said, “By virtue of the power conferred on me under Section 174 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, Section 107 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and all other powers enabling me in that behalf, I, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice tend to discontinue Charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/235/2019″, between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Omoyele Sowore, Olawale Adebayo Bakare (aka Mandate).
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had earlier threatened to strike out the treasonable felony charge filed against Sowore and Bakare if the federal government was not ready to go on with the case five years later.
The judge handed down the warning on Wednesday at the resumed hearing of the case.
The case which was slated for trial could not go on as the 1st defendant could not take his plea following the announcement of the new prosecution lawyer, who said that she would be taking over the case on the ground that the lawyer handling the case initially had been transferred out of the Ministry of Justice.
She subsequently requested an adjournment to enable her to study and be abreast of the case.
The application was objected to by the defence counsel, Marshal Abubakar, on the ground that the prosecution was playing to the gallery to waste the time of the court.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government, in 2019 slammed a seven-count criminal charge, bordering on treasonable felony and money laundering against Sowore, the convener of #RevolutionNow protest, who is also publisher of SaharaReporters online news medium.
Also charged along the Sowore, a presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) party in the seven-count charge is Olawale Bakare, also known as Mandate.
The charge which was signed on behalf of the then Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), by a Chief State Counsel, Aminu Alilu, in the Department of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Justice, specifically accused Sowore and his co-defendant of conspiracy to commit treasonable felony in breach of section 516 of the Criminal Code Act by allegedly staging “a revolution campaign on September 5, 2019 aimed at removing the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
The prosecution also accused them of committing the actual offence of treasonable felony in breach of section, 4(1)(c) of the Criminal Code Act, by using the platform of Coalition for Revolution, in August 2019 in Abuja, Lagos and other parts of Nigeria, to stage the #RevolutionNow protest allegedly aimed at removing the President.
Sowore was further accused of cybercrime offences in violation of section 24(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Act, by “knowingly sending messages by means of press interview granted on Arise Television network which you knew to be false for the purpose of causing insult, enmity, hatred and ill-will on the person of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
It also accused Sowore of money laundering offences in breach of section 15(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
Sowore was arrested in the early hours of Saturday, August 3, 2019, in a hotel in Lagos by men of the DSS on account of the #RevolutionNow protest that he had spearheaded.