The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Department of State Services to release the Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, within 24 hours.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu gave the order on Thursday at the trial on charges of treasonable felony.
The judge said she signed the warrants for the release of the defendants from custody, and same was served on the defendants, thus, the DSS had no justifiable reason to hold them in custody any longer.
Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Hassan Liman (SAN), insisted that the DSS had not obeyed the court order for their release, and had no power to constitute itself into a parallel court.
Justice Ojukwu also awarded the cost of N100,000 against the prosecution to be paid to the defendants for foisting “frivolous adjournment” on the court, a sum to be paid before the next hearing on Friday.
However, operatives of the DSS returned Sowore and Bakare to custody at the end of the proceedings.