Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore has alleged that the Nigerian government ‘secretly’ asked the court to order his arrest.
Sowore and his co-defendant Olawale Bakare are still standing trial on a two-count charge of felony conspiracy and felony by the Nigerian government.
The Sahara Reporters publisher was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) on Saturday, August 3, 2019, for organising a #RevolutionNow protest.
The Nigerian government said the protest was a veiled plot to overthrow President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
Sowore spent over 120 days in detention despite two court orders granting him bail before his release on Christmas eve in December 2019.
He and Bakare, after their release, sued the Nigerian government for violation of their human rights.
At the hearing of the suit on Wednesday, Sowore said he discovered that the government had applied for his rearrest.
“A little sinister surprise happened as the judge asked the DSS to address its next case, it turned out that the regime through the DSS had filed a secret request to the court asking for another order to detain me, they didn’t reveal the date the request was filed,” Sowore said in an Instagram post.
Sowore, however, said the DSS was embarrassed and “requested to withdraw the case claiming it had been overtaken by events.”
The case was adjourned by the judge of the Abuja federal high court Justice Inyang Ekwo to Wednesday, March 25, 2020, for hearing.
Sowore and Bakare are challenging DSS Director-General Yusuf Bichi and Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), for their illegal arrest and detention.
Sowore and Bakare asked the court to order the DSS to pay them N500m each as damages for their detention and violation of fundamental rights.
