Court grants Sowore N100m bail, gives conditions

Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday granted bail to RevolutionNow convener, Omoyele Sowore, and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare.

She granted bail to Sowore in the sum of N100m with two sureties in like sum, and ordered him to deposit the sum of N50m in the account of the court as security.

The sureties who must be resident in Abuja must also have landed assets worth the bail sum in Abuja, and they are to deposit the original title documents of the assets with the court.

She also granted bail to the second defendant in the sum of N50m with one surety.

The judge further barred the defendants from addressing any rally pending the conclusion of their trial, and also barred Sowore from traveling out of Abuja and Bakare out of Osogbo during the trial.

Justice Ojukwu had fixed Friday for the bail application hearing after Sowore and Bakare were arraigned on Monday by the Federal Government on seven charges bordering on an alleged conspiracy to commit treason, money laundering, and insulting the President, among others, to which they pleaded not guilty.

It would be recalled that the Sahara Reporter publisher was arrested by the DSS on August 3, 2019 barely 48 hours before the RevolutionNow protest.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja subsequently granted the DSS permission to detain Sowore for 45 days and ordered him to be released on bail after its expiration, but the ruling was not carried out until he was arraigned on Monday.

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