Convener of ‘RevolutionNow’ protests, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, has appealed against the court order which granted the Department of State Services, DSS, the permission to detain him for 45 days.
In a motion on notice filed on Friday, Sowore, through his lawyer, Femi Falana, asked the Appeal Court to set aside the ex parte order of the court for his detention.
In the motion with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/915/2019 he is also asking for such order or other orders as the court may deem fit and proper to make in the circumstances.
The application is premised on 18 grounds, one of which is that the said order breached the fundamental rights provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Recall that Sowore was arrested on August 3 by operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS and has been in their custody ever since.
The security agency had approached the court seeking to detain Sowore for 90 days while they investigate him.
He was accused of alleged terrorism acts.
However, Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Abuja Federal High Court granted the DSS permission to detain the activist for 45 days with a provision that the order can be reviewed.
In his appeal, Falana said Sowore’s detention for an initial four days period before the grant of the ex-parte order was illegal by virtue of Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
He averred that the order brought pursuant to Section 27 (1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2013, was obtained by the DSS to legalise his client’s illegal detention.
According to the human rights activist, the DSS had concluded investigation of the case and announced its findings via a press briefing.
No date has been fixed for hearing of the motion.
