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By John Ogunsemore
Foremost human rights lawyer, Femi Falana SAN has faulted the bail condition imposed by the police to free Omoyele Sowore from custody.
On Monday, Sowore reported at the Force Intelligence Department (FID) in Abuja following invitation.
In a Facebook post, the Publisher of Sahara Reporters said he was asked to produce a level 17 civil servant as surety and surrender his international passport as conditions to be granted administrative bail.
Sowore said he rejected the bail condition asking him to present a level 17 civil servant (Permanent Secretary) as surety and opted to remain in police custody.
In an update, Sowore disclosed that the police team attached to his case informed him that the Head of FID, DIG Dasuki Galandachi reevaluated his bail conditions and asked him to only produce a level 16 civil servant and surrender his international passport.
Sowore said he also rejected these conditions.
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“I refuse to participate in any arrangement that undermines my personal integrity,” he said.
Sowore, who described the conditions as ridiculous, disclosed that his lawyer, Falana, wrote to the police to counter it.
In the letter, the human rights lawyer said the Court of Appeal had declared the bail condition as illegal.
Falana’s letter read, “Thanks for reducing the bail condition of Mr. Omoyele Sowore to a surety of level 16.
“However, i wish to point out that such bail condition has been declared illegal by the Court of Appeal in the case of Dasuki V. Director-General, S.S.S. [2020]10 NWLR PT.1731 PG. 136-143 where Adah JCA (now JSC) held as follows:
“Let me quickly say that of concern it is to us that as a court we must be ready and sensitive enough not to allow or do anything that will run foul of the law. The issue of involving civil servants or Public Officers in the Public Service of the Federation and the State in bail of people accused of criminal offences has never been the practice in Nigeria or any part of the civilised world. It was an oversight on our part to allow it in. Our Civil and Public Service Rules do not have any room for it. Expecting a Level 16 Servant to own property worth N100,000,000, will be running counter to the Public Service Rules and by extension the war against corruption. It is in this respect that I will act ex debito justitiae to ensure that the aspect of involving serving Public Servant below the status of Level 16 Officer in either the state or Public Service of the Federation or any of its agencies be removed and I so order.”
