Femi Falana (SAN), the counsel to Omoyele Sowore, has reacted to the
press release of the Department of State Services (DSS) in which it
absolved itself of responsibility for the armed invasion of the Federal
High Court, Abuja.
Falana, in a statement he personally signed on Sunday, condemned the
DSS for what he called the desecration of Court No 7 of Hon. Justice
Ijeoma Ojukwu and the illegal rearrest of Omoyele Sowore.
He said the DSS pretended to forget that the abominable desecration
of the Federal High Court was covered live by domestic and international
media outlets and journalists.
The full statement made available to DAILY POST reads:
“The Service argues on the one hand that the arrest of Sowore was
“stage managed” by his supporters in order to give the Service a bad
name whilst also admitting at the same time that officers of the Service
arrested Sowore outside the Court.
“Having declared that the Service arrested Sowore “outside the
court”, despite the “stage managing” argument, what the Nigerian people
want to see happen is the immediate release of Sowore, pending his trial
as ordered by the court.
“INDUBITABLE FACTS CONFIRMING DESECRATION OF COURT AND RE-ARREST BY THE SERVICE
“However, the following facts underscore our insistence that the
Service was solely responsible for the desecration of the hallowed
chambers of the court: By the advantage of information technology, the
whole world has placed responsibility for the gangsteric desecration of
the court on the SSS.
“The SSS cannot extricate itself from the abominable acts of 6th
December, 2019. When I informed the court that fresh charges were being
filed against our clients and that they could be re-arrested, the
prosecution denied any such plan. As soon as the case was adjourned the
SSS pounced on Sowore and caused a disruption of the proceedings of the
court.
“Having taken over the courtroom vi et armis Justice Ojukwu hurriedly
rose and asked the Registrar to adjourn all other cases. After the
learned trial judge had risen for the day she summoned the heads of the
prosecution and defence teams to her chambers.
“When the lead prosecutor, Dr. Liman Hassan SAN, denied knowledge of
the invasion of her court she directed him to invite the head of the SSS
team in the court. When challenged to justify the invasion of the court
the officer could not. He apologised to Justice Ojukwu on behalf of the
SSS.
“The judge then directed the officer to withdraw the SSS operatives
from the courtroom. The directive was complied with as the operatives
withdrew from the courtroom but rushed out to join their colleagues who
had taken over the entire court house.
“Notwithstanding that the SSS could not produce any warrant of arrest
for Sowore the defence team decided that I should accompany him to the
SSS headquarters in view of his physical brutalisation inside the
courtroom and the open threat to his life. I did and ensured that he was
driven in my car to the SSS headquarters where I handed him over to the
officers on duty.
“Thereafter, I requested for a meeting with the head of the SSS but I
was informed that he was not in the office. Though, ordinarily,
officers of the Service do not wear any uniform, on the 6th day of
December, some of them were in mufti, many were not only armed but also
masked while others disguised in lawyer’s black and white suit.
“Regardless of the form of appearance, the officers of the Service
inside Court No. 7 were identifiable by their roles and acts of seizing
Sowore and pinning him down. It is an utter poor reasoning to say that
Sowore’s supporters were also those bent on injuring him in order to
arrest him.
“The argument of the Service in this respect is as unfortunate and
pitiable as the earlier argument of the Service in respect of the Late
Chief Gani Fawehinmi who was once accused of wanting to set ablaze his
own house. If Sowore’s supporters subjected him to such brutalisation in
the presence of SSS operatives why were they not arrested for
contravening the provisions of the Anti Torture Act, 2017?
“Or were the SSS operatives expecting the supporters of a defendant
wanted by the State to kill him in their presence? Before submitting
himself for arrest Sowore had rightly demanded for a warrant of arrest
and detention order but the sss operatives were unable to produce
either.
“ON RATIONALISATION OF RE-ARREST OF SOWORE BY THE SERVICE In
rationalizing the re-arrest of Sowore, which is denied in the same Press
statement, the Service alleged that Sowore held meetings with some
people. Assuming without conceding that Sowore held meetings with some
people in Transcorp Hotel as alleged by the SSS, why did the Prosecution
not inform the trial court that the defendant had breached his bail
conditions?
“ON THE CLAIM OF THE SERVICE THAT IT IS LAW-ABIDING The sss says it
is a law abiding institution. But why did it refuse to comply with the
order of Justice Taiwo to release Sowore? Why did the SSS threaten to
report the judge to the NJC for granting bail to Sowore?
“Why did the SSS subject the order of Justice Ojukwu for the release
of Sowore to its own approval by asking the sureties already verified by
the judge to report themselves to the SSS? Why the SSS wait for the
24-hour ultimatum issued by the trial judge before releasing Sowore and
Bakare?
“Incidentally, the current prosecutor, Dr. Liman Hassan SAN, was the
counsel to the defendant in the case of FRN v Air Commodore Mohammed. In
that case the order of Justice Nnamdi Dimgba for the release of the
defendant on bail was flouted by the SSS. As if that was not enough, the
SSS invaded the home of the judge on 8th October 2016 when the houses
of judges accused of corruption were raided.
“Even though I have never appeared before Justice Dimgba I have
always known him as a judge of impeccable integrity. So, I challenged
the SSS for painting an incorruptible judge with the brush of shame. It
was after my intervention that the NJC gave the judge a clean bill of
health. Thereafter, the judge was compelled to withdraw from the case.
“The SSS thought that it had won but it was a pyrrhic victory. Thus,
Justice John Tsoho (current Chief Judge of the federal high court) to
whom the case was assigned reiterated the orders of Justice Dimgba and
proceeded to rule that trial would not commence in the case until the
defendant was released from custody. It was at that stage that the DSS
complied with the order of the federal high court.
“In the light of the foregoing we reiterate our demand for the
release of not only Sowore in obedience to court orders, pending the
verdict of the court in their trial. We equally call for the release of
all other political detainees, and criminal suspects who have been
admitted to bail pending trial by competent courts.
“Finally, it is common knowledge that this country was ruled by
military dictators for about three decades. On no occasion did security
operatives invade court premises to arrest political activists inside a
courtroom. Therefore, the bizarre harassment of courts cannot be
tolerated under a democratically government that claims to operate under
the rule of law.”