Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Abuja division of the Federal High Court on Friday granted bail to the convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare in the sum of N100m and two sureties in like sum.
The court however barred the duo from addressing any rally pending the conclusion of their trial on charges of treasonable felony among others.
In addition, Justice Ifeoma Ojukwu further barred Sowore from traveling out of Abuja and Bakare from traveling out of Osogbo, during the trial.
The court said the sureties who must be resident in Abuja must also have landed assets worth the bail sum in Abuja, and they are to deposit the original title documents of the assets with the court. The judge also ordered him to deposit the sum of N50m in the account of the court as security.
She granted bail to the second defendant in the sum of N50m with one surety.
The judge ordered that the defendants be remanded in the custody of the Department of State Service pending when they would meet the bail conditions.
But counsel to the defendants, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has described the bail conditions as stringent.
Before the ruling, Falana had urged the court to admit them to bail on liberal terms, while the prosecution counsel, Hassan Liman (SAN) in opposing the application, urged the court to refuse same.
Moving the bail application, Falana said the charges of treasonable felony instituted against his clients were baseless, as tagging their protest “revolution” was not an offence in Nigeria.
He informed the court that President Muhammadu Buhari, had in the past called for a violent revolution like the one that took place in Egypt and was not arrested or prosecuted.
He submitted that the applicants were not even accused of training people in Ghana like Chief Obafemi Awolowo when he was charged with treasonable felony, stressing that in this case, no training, no contact with any soldier was established.
“We have shown that leaders of the ruling party (the All Progressives Congress) have been calling for a revolution. In 2011, Mr. President called for revolution like the violent Egyptian revolution. In this case, the first defendant warned that nobody should engage in violence. We submit with profound respect that the use of the word ‘revolution’ has not been criminalised in Nigeria. When President Buhari called for revolution, he was never arrested or prosecuted.”
However, in a 27-paragraph counter-affidavit filed before the court, the lead prosecution counsel, Hassan Liman maintained that Sowore posed “a threat to national security”.
Liman further expressed fears that the defendant would call for another revolution once he is freed from custody, saying there was “likelihood of the defendant committing the same offence again”. The prosecution urged the court to consider the severity of the allegation against the detained activist who was the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, in the last general election, contending that the defendant posed flight risk having realised that the charge contained a capital offence that would attract a life imprisonment upon his conviction.
Liman told the court that Sowore was based in the United States of America, USA, and would jump bail if released from detention. Prosecution counsel further urged the court to take judicial notice of the case of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, who he said escaped from the country after he was granted bail on a similar charge.