Just In: Court grants Sowore N20m bail

Nigerian human rights activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore have been granted bail for the sum of N20m following a Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Abuja.

Sowore, Peter Williams, Sanyaolu Juwon, Emmanuel Bulus, and Damilare Ademola were arrested on New Year’s eve during a procession organized 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 center.

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 defendant, while moving the application for bail, asked the court to grant bail to his clients “on self recognizance 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.