Court grants Sowore N20m bail

A magistrate court sitting in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, has granted bail to Omoyele Sowore, convener of the Revolution Now Movement, in the sum of N20 million.

Sowore, Peter Williams, Sanyaolu Juwon, Emmanuel Bulus and Damilare Adenola were arrested on New Year’s eve during a procession organised and led by Sowore.

The police had arraigned the five persons last Monday on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, unlawful assembly, and incitement.

Mabel Segun-Bello, the magistrate, had ordered that they be remanded at the Kuje correctional centre.

But last Tuesday, they were transferred to the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID) after Sowore reported that they were denied access to healthcare, food, and water.

Marshal Abubakar, counsel to the defendants, while moving the application for bail, asked the court to grant bail to his clients “on self recognisance or in the alternative, grant bail in the most liberal terms”.

The ruling which was scheduled for Friday was stalled owing to the failure of the police to produce the defendants in court.

Ruling on the bail application on Monday, the chief magistrate said the defendants did not resist arrest while being apprehended.

She also said the defendants are entitled to bail as it is their fundamental right to liberty.

The second, third, fourth and fifth defendants were granted bail in liberal terms with a bond of one million each.

They are also to produce one surety in like sum who “must be resident in Abuja with an identifiable workplace and residential address”.

“The first defendant however, Omoyele Sowore is also admitted to bail in the sum of N20 million and two sureties in like sum,” the magistrate ordered.

One of the sureties must be a civil servant not below grade level 12 in the federal civil service.

The magistrate said Sowore must report physically to the chief registrar of the FCT high court or any other person designated by the chief registrar every Monday and Friday mornings until the end of the case.

All defendants must not travel outside Abuja metropolis or outside the country pending determination of the case.

Reacting to the ruling, Sowore said the bail conditions are too stringent.

He said the bail sum is too high for a civil servant to have, adding that no civil servant would want to risk his or her job.

He thanked his supporters for standing by him.