The Department of State Services, DSS as at Thursday was yet to release the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, as directed by the Federal High Court, Abuja on Tuesday. The DSS claims that the Service was yet to be served with a valid Court order for his bail.
The Spokesperson of the Service, Dr. Peter Afunanya, said, “We have not received the court order. And his (Sowore’s) counsel is a very senior member of the bar and he knows the process to follow; this process has not been followed.
“Not until that is done, there is nothing we can do, we must due process in every we are doing, we expect his legal team too to follow due process”, according to Tribune Online.
Dr Afunanya pointed out that the DSS as a law-abiding agency has the highest regard for the laws of the land and would not do anything to undermine law and order.
Sowore, had been granted bail by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja on Tuesday after spending 42 days in the DSS custody. The judge had directed that he should be released to his Counsel, Chief Femi Falana who should produce him before the Court for proper trial.
The judge also dismissed DSS’ objection in granting him bail on the condition that he deposit his international passport in the registry of the court, which he did through his lawyers on Wednesday.
His counsel and human rights lawyer, Chief Femi Falanana, has asked the DSS to release Sowore or face the legal consequence of disobeying the court order. He also vowed to continue to occupy the Headquarters of the DSS in Abuja until his Client was released by the Service.
Sowore, who was a presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in the February 2019 general elections, was arrested on August 3, 2019, for calling for a nationwide protest tagged #RevolutionNow on August 5. According to the DSS, he was arrested “for threatening public safety, peaceful co-existence and social harmony in the country.”
