The Federal Government has decided to halt the legal proceedings against Omoyele Sowore, the presidential aspirant of the African Action Congress (AAC), and his co-accused, Olawale Bakare (widely known as Mandate). This move was formalized through a notice of discontinuance submitted to the Federal High Court in Abuja, which was dated February 14 and filed on the following day by Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
The document stated: “In exercise of the authority vested in me by Section 174 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Section 107 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, among other empowering statutes, I, Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, SAN, hereby announce the withdrawal of charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/235/2019.”
Sowore, alongside Bakare, faced charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja in 2019 after organizing a protest in Abuja known as “Revolution Now.”
Justice Emeka Nwite, presiding over the case at the Federal High Court, Abuja, had previously warned that he would dismiss the treason allegations if the Nigerian government did not proceed with the case, five years after the initial charges were filed. This warning came during a session where the trial was supposed to resume.
However, the trial was stalled because the first defendant, Sowore, was unable to enter a plea due to the introduction of a new prosecuting attorney. The new attorney claimed she was recently assigned to the case after her predecessor was transferred from the Ministry of Justice, requesting an adjournment to familiarize herself with the case details.
This request for adjournment was met with opposition from the defense lawyer, Marshal Abubakar, who accused the prosecution of deliberately delaying the court’s time.
