Arrested on the claims of public disturbance on the eve of the new year, publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore has regained his freedom after an Abuja Magistrate Court in Wuse Zone 2 granted him bail at N20million on Monday.
Alongside four other – Peter Williams, Sanyaolu Juwon, Emmanuel Bulus and Damilare Adenola, Sowore was arraigned before the court on January 4, 2021, on a three-count charge filed by the police, following which the court ordered that they be remanded in prison.
The presiding Magistrate, Mabel Segun-Bello in a ruling held that the defendants were entitled to bail as they did not resisted arrest while being apprehended by the police.
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The Magistrate had particularly ordered that the first defendant (Sowore) be admitted to N20m bail with two sureties in like sum.
Magistrate Segun-Bello added that one of the sureties must be a civil servant, not below Grade Level 12 in the federal civil service.
She further ordered that Sowore must report physically to the Chief Registrar of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) or any other person designated by the Chief Registrar, every Monday and Friday mornings until the end of the case.
For the other four defendants, the Magistrates said they should be granted bail after endorsing a bond of N1m each.
In addition, each of them is to produce one surety in like sum, who “must be resident in Abuja with an identifiable workplace and residential address”.
“All defendants must not travel outside Abuja metropolis or outside the country pending the determination of the case,” Segun-Bello said.
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The defendants were arrested on New Year’s Eve over their involvement in a protest despite the ban on crossover night activities by the government.
They were arraigned on January 4, 2021, on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, unlawful assembly and public disturbance.
Following their plea of not guilty, Magistrate Segun-Bello ordered that they be remanded at the Kuje correctional centre, pending the hearing and determination of their bail applications.
