The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), has taken over the case against the Mr. Omoyele Sowore, Convener of the #RevolutionNow protests from the Department of State Services.
This was disclosed in a statement by the minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr. Umar Gwandu, on Friday.
The statement made reference to a December 11, 2019 letter sent on behalf of the AGF by the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Mr. Dayo Apata (SAN), to the Director-General of DSS, Yusuf Bichi, directing the security agency to “promptly forward all the case files” to the AGF office.
It quoted Apata’s letter as stating that “the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice upon a further review of the case, has directed the immediate takeover of the prosecution of all charges in respect of Omoyole Sowore by the Federal Ministry of Justice, in line with the provisions of Sections 150(1) and 174 (1) (a-c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”
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The letter requested the Director to “promptly forward all the case files” in respect of Omoyele Sowore to the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
According to the statement by Gwandu, the move to take over the case from the DSS was to ensure speedy completion of the case.
Sowore, who has been in the custody of the DSS since August 3, is standing trial for treasonable felony.
He was briefly released on bail on Thursday, December 5, by the security agency, but was re-arrested at the premises of the Abuja Federal High Court the next day by operatives of the agency when he appeared in court for the continuation of his trial.
Recall that on Wednesday the Attorney-General disclosed that the Federal Government had launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Sowore’s re-arrest.