AAC lawyer: Insulting a president can never amount to criminal offence

Tope Akinyode, head of the Africa Action Congress (AAC) legal team in Lagos state, says insulting a president can never amount to a criminal offence.

The party said this in reaction to an order by the Abuja federal high court granting the release of Omoyele Sowore, its presidential candidate in the last general election.

Taiwo Taiwo, the judge, had ruled that the SaharaReporters publisher be released since there was no longer a subsisting order keeping him in detention.

Sowore has spent 52 days in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) after he was arrested on August 2.

He was picked up on the eve of a nationwide protest scheduled to hold on August 5.

He was later charged with causing insult to the person of President Muhammadu Buhari, money laundering and treasonable felony.

In a statement on Tuesday, Akinyode said when justice is certain and mild, hope is renewed in the common man.

Akinyode advised the federal government to focus on governance, which he said, is its ultimate task.

“It is our contention that when justice is certain and mild- as we have seen today, hope is renewed in the common man,” he said.

“We hail the judge for his legal erudition and industry in this matter. Law is sacrosanct, the law is saintly; the law knows no partisan politics and never should justice be for sale.

“Our further demand is that the Federal Government should immediately withdraw all the charges against Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Adebayo.

“‘Insulting’ the President can never amount to a criminal offence. The government should focus on good governance which is its ultimate task.”