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Tag: sowore

  • #RevolutionNow Protest: Sowore’s trial resumes today

    #RevolutionNow Protest: Sowore’s trial resumes today

    Hearing will continue today at the Federal High Court in Abuja in the trial against #RevolutionNow Convener Omoyele Sowore.

    On December 6, 2019, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu adjourned till February 11, 12 and 13, 2020, for definite hearing in the trial.

    But the court did not sit yesterday as Justice Ojukwu was sitting outside division.

    Sowore and co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, are facing trial over charges of treasonable felony for organising the #RevolutionNow protest on August 5, 2019, which the government saw as an attempt to disrupt peace in the country.

    He was arrested on August 3, 2019, by the Department of State Services (DSS) and was in custody until December 5, 2019, despite court orders to release him on bail.

    Last November, the DSS acknowledged receipt of the court order but said the reason for still keeping Sowore was that the appropriate sureties had not come forward to bail him.

    But following an order of Justice Ojukwu on December 5, 2019, that Sowore and Bakare be released within 24 hours and a cost of N100,000 awarded against the DSS, the duo were released around 5 p.m on the same day.

    After his appearance in court the following day, the accused was rearrested by the DSS on fresh charges.

    Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, on December 13, 2019, took over the prosecution of Sowore’s case from the DSS.

  • Buhari: Let’s build on Dasuki, Sowore momentum, By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Buhari: Let’s build on Dasuki, Sowore momentum, By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon
    A reaction, by a journalist on Facebook, to my article of January 6, 2020, captioned: “2020-2023: Buhari and contacts with Nigerians,” tended to dampen the thrust of the piece: the need for President Muhammadu Buhari to regularly connect with Nigerians.
    Describing the feature as “a great piece,” the respondent said, “but what you propose will be long coming.” Why? He said: “I covered his (Buhari’s) first coming as Military Head of State. It will be difficult to remove the stoic toga that characterizes the man, Buhari.
    “As for humour, there is aplenty in him and it is shared rarely. He is firm and compassionate. For fear of turning this into a PR job, that which you expect will be long coming. He hates to play to the gallery.”
    That got me thinking! Why can’t President Buhari be swayed to change his ways or remove his “stoic toga,” as he’s also credited to be “compassionate”?
    My response’s that: “Nigerians have had an overdose of his firmness, but rarely that of his compassion. Showing that in face-to-face contacts with the people that voted him into power shouldn’t be viewed as a PR, or playing to the gallery.”
    Wasn’t it speculated or claimed that several Nigerians persuaded, and an American senator “threatened” President Buhari to release former National Security Adviser, retired Col. Sambo Dasuki and the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Mr. Omoyele Sowore?
    Why will Buhari’s mind remain rigid as regards similar detainees, like the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, his wife, Zeenat, and a local tabloid publisher in Cross River, Mr Agba Jalingo?
    Well, I find interesting, on the same Monday of January 6, a piece by renowned lawyer, educationist and administrator, Chief Afe Babalola, calling for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), to midwife a new Constitution for Nigeria.
    Chief Babalola, on the back page of the New Telegraph, pleaded with President Buhari not to stop at the “two miracles” that “happened towards the end of 2019,” but to “immediately send a Bill to the National Assembly,” proposing the conference.
    The “miracles” refer to the closure of the Nigerian borders with Benin Republic and Niger Republic, and the release of Dasuki and Sowore, who’s a presidential candidate in the 2019 election.
    Desirous as a SNC, and the gains of the border closure are, they aren’t the objects of this discourse, but the pursuit of the momentum of “national healing,” which government’s release of Dasuki and Sowore represents or can engender.
    Nigerians may not correctly gauge the gains of their temporary “freedom” from detention of four years, and four months, in that order. But the sudden cessation of localized, and national protests by Sowore’s supporters points to government’s right decision.
    With no embers to fan in the interim, critics, officially pigeonholed as “opposition,” who had capitalized on the detainees’ dilemmas, have turned to other frontiers, such as the politics of 2023.
    But it isn’t “hallelujah time,” as the doors are still shut on several hailed “Prisoners of Conscience,” prominently Sheikh El-Zakzaky, his wife, Zeenat, and Mr Jalingo, ranked domestically and globally on the same pedestal as Dasuki and Sowore.
    So, why would the government treat El-Zakzaky, Zeenat and Jalingo’s cases differently “if it has decided to obey the rule of law, and court orders,” and release Dasuki and Sowore?
    That’s how most Nigerians view the government action, without the insight that “their cases fall under the state judiciary,” in these instances, the governments of Kaduna and Cross River.
    The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, stated government’s rationale to let go Dasuki and Sowore, while El-Zakzaky and Jalingo are restrained.
    Malami said: “In determining the authority responsible for compliance with a court order, with particular reference to bail, one must be guided by the law under which the accused person is charged and granted bail.
    “On one hand, where the accused is charged under state law, the order of the court granting bail for an accused person is targeted at the state authorities for compliance.
    “On the other hand, where charges are framed under federal offences, the order granting bail is targeted at the federal authorities for compliance.”
    Going by Malami’s explanation, whereas Dasuki and Sowore are charged under federal law, the charges against El-Zakzaky and Janingo are framed under state offences.
    But with the Department of State Services (DSS) prosecuting, and holding him and his wife in “protective custody” in Abuja, the public had viewed the El-Zakzaky case as a federal felony.
    That notion changed when the IMN leader and his wife were granted an Abuja court’s leave to go for medical treatment in India in August 2019. Then, the federal authorities said it’s only the Kaduna government that could release the duo for the trip.
    To polity watchers, “pushing the case” to the jurisdiction of the Kaduna government “was a ploy” by the federal government to avoid blame were the state government to deny the detainees the permission to travel for the medical treatment.
    If they had committed state offences, why would they be tried, and held in Abuja under the “protective custody” of the DSS, an agency of the federal government?
    Yet, when the medical treatment fell through, the detainees were returned to the DSS custody in Abuja. Why wouldn’t they be left in the ambit of the Kaduna judiciary and the custody of the state government, if, indeed, they infracted state law?
    If El-Zakzaky and Jalingo are facing “treasonable felony” charges filed by their individual state government, why will Jalingo be held by the Cross River government, and El-Zakzaky is confined in Abjua, away from Kaduna, the location of the alleged crime?
    That the cases are domiciled in the states doesn’t resonate with concerned citizens, who know that the federal government has the power to assume jurisdiction in matters of national and subnational interests, especially in treasonable felonies.
    The purpose here isn’t to impeach the custody of the detainees, the jurisdiction of the cases or the charges preferred against them, which they have the onus to disprove in court.
    Rather, the advocacy is that as there’re reasons, and seasons for the government decision to release Dasuki and Sowore, such alibis should be found to free El-Zakzaky and his wife, and Jalingo.
    By intervening on behalf of El-Zakzaky, Zeenat and Jalingo, the Buhari administration would not only be advancing the “miracles” of December 24, 2019, in respect of Dasuki and Sowore, but also extending the new vista of hope into, and beyond 2020. So, let the good tidings, and celebrations continue!
    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
  • Why we detained Dasuki, Sowore despite court orders – FG

    Why we detained Dasuki, Sowore despite court orders – FG

    The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) has explained that the Federal Government had the right to keep the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki and convener of #RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore despite court orders.

    Malami disclosed this when he appeared on ‘Good Morning Nigeria’, a programme of the NTA on Thursday.

    The AGF said the orders of the court were subject to applications for variation and appeals at the Court of Appeal, explaining that the enforcement of the orders could be delayed in such circumstances.

    He said this applied in the cases of Dasuki and Sowore, adding that “there were applications for setting aside orders; there were appeals for a stay of execution all through. So, until those matters reach the Supreme Court and it takes the final decision, relating there, you are still operating within the ambit and context of rule of law.”

    The AGF further stressed the need for Nigerians to understand the judicial process and that not all court orders are to be obeyed immediately.

    “Perhaps, I need to clear the air on how the rule of law operates within the context of the Nigerian constitution. We have multiple and a plethora of judicial decisions that establishes a fact that when you are challenging a court order through a judicial process, the idea of disobedience to that court order does not arise,” he said.

    Malami added that: “The misapprehension that set into the system and deliberately put in the public space is the fact that once there is a court order, you must unconditionally comply.

    You can only be adjudged being in disobedience of a court order when you don’t take advantage of the constitutional powers, rights accorded to you by appealing against the order and perhaps, seeking for stay of execution of the order or perhaps, you don’t take any steps seeking variation of the court order.”

  • Dasuki, Sowore: Critics’ gripe over process, By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon

    It’s “different strokes for different folks,” as Nigerians continue to react to the release of former National Security Adviser, retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, and activist-publisher-politician, Mr Omoyele Sowore, on Tuesday, December 24, 2019.
    The overdue gesture, coming after Dasuki and Sowore had spent almost four years and seven months, respectively, in detention, was ordered by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami.
    While many hail the release as “a perfect Christmas gift” not only to the detainees, but also to all Nigerians, others are splitting hairs over the process of their freedom: Why was it effected?
    This angle of the debate has overshadowed the import of the matter, as the proponents argue that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration didn’t release the detainees as a matter of benevolence, but was forced to so act.
    So, what informed the administration’s decision after shunning several court orders on bail? Who or what pressured or influenced the government to free the duo from lengthy incarceration?
    This query isn’t misplaced, going by experiences of the recent past when agencies of government acted, in a pick-and-choose fashion, which lawful orders to obey or disregard in high-profile cases.
    For instance, in the matter of Dasuki and Sowore, the Department of State Services (DSS), which prosecutes them for offences of treason, gun-running, cyber-stalking or money laundering, has displayed scant regard for court fiats to commit them to bail.
    Even when it “agreed” to releasing them, the DSS would sooner slap fresh charges on the defendants, and capitalize on the confusion to re-arrest them, sometimes at court premises.
    On December 6, armed operatives of the DSS invaded a Federal High Court in Abuja, to seize Sowore on “fresh charges” of breaching his bail conditions hours after his initial release.
    The previous day, December 5, Sowore (and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare) was released by the DSS on the strength of a ruling, on that day, by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu.
    Besides giving the DSS 24 hours to free the detainees, and pay a fine of N100,000, the judge had threatened dire punishment should the service disobey, once again, to release the defendants.
    So, on the next court day, Friday, December 6, specially slated for a report of compliance with the court directive, and for resumption of the trial, DSS operatives invaded the court, to arrest Sowore.
    There’s a tug of war between the operatives and supporters of Sowore, to take possession of the activist. The milieu, in which “guns were cocked,” prompted an adjournment of proceedings.
    It took the shepherding by Sowore’s lead lawyer and rights activist, Mr Femi Falana, to persuade the operatives not to “desecrate” the “Temple of Justice,” but to go outside to effect the arrest of his client, who spent additional 18 days in confinement.
    While Mr Malami, in the interim, called for Sowore’s court files, many Nigerians didn’t expect a positive outcome from the Attorney General, who had said he couldn’t ask the DSS to release Sowore and others in similar dilemmas.
    Indeed, the watching public had hazarded that Malami, a close ally of President Buhari, only called for the detainees’ files in order to prolong their captivity through “contrived” adjournments and amendments or filing of fresh charges against them.
    In essence, the “Breaking News” of December 24, about the government directive to release Sowore and Bakare, and the long-held Dasuki, was a bolt out of the blue.
    That’s why the “conspiracy theory” that government’s hands were forced by external forces, particularly the United States of America, which days earlier, had placed Nigeria on a Security Watch List (SWL) over alleged religious and human rights abuses.
    Before the SWL slam, there’s a report that U.S. Senator Robert Menendez had written a letter, threatening American sanctions on Nigeria for refusing to release Sowore and others.
    The social media thus linked the letter to the release of Sowore. Some samplers: “Buhari bows to pressure from America.” “The fear of the U.S. government is the beginning of wisdom for Nigerian government.” “I now believe that dictators are indeed cowards.” “It was a foreign letter that compelled this lawless government to do the right thing.” “I sense the beginning of the cabals’ downfall.” “Sowore is the Saviour Nigerians have been looking for.”
    Nothing could persuade the purveyors of this narrative that the Buhari government acted at its discretion to release the detainees. Not even the usual “credible persons” they religiously follow could change their minds.
    In the heat of the debate, former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, had “revealed four Nigerians,” who persuaded President Buhari to release Dasuki and Sowore. He stated this on Twitter on December 24.
    He wrote: “I can tell you authoritatively that 4 people fought from within to get Dasuki & Sowore released & eventually managed to convince Buhari. They are Abba Kyari, Malami, Hadi Sirika and Kayode Fayemi. They represent the liberal and cerebral wing of the Buhari Govt. & I commend them.”
    But some see Fani-Kayode, an unrepentant critic of Buhari and his government, as “spinning” for the administration. “What haven’t we seen in this Nigeria,” a critic wrote on WhatsApp, adding, “Look at Fani-Kayode joining the ‘cabals’ to fool Nigerians.”
    It’s the same way others dismissed the explanation by Mr Malami, that the government took the decision to free Dasuki and Sowore on compassionate ground, and on its commitment to the rule of law and obedience to court orders.
    “Oh, where were they (government) when ‘fowl grow teeth,’?” a poster hollered on Facebook. “Is it just now they knew that Dasuki and Sowore needed compassion, and that they should obey lawful orders of the courts?” the critic said.
    No one should begrudge Nigerians expressing displeasure over government’s seeming proclivity to resorting to strong-arm tactics in dealing with offences people would readily ascribe to “settling scores” instead of the pursuit of law and order.
    But my point of departure with them is the simplistic conclusion that an American senator’s letter would quickly turn, into a lilly-livered civilian, an alleged “military dictator,” who the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) labels his rule as “worse than Adolf Hitler’s of Germany, and Samuel Doe’s of Liberia.”
    Does Buhari that Nigerians know present a visage to be cowed by external forces, least of all by a morally-bankrupt American senator mired in underage prostitution allegations?
    Let’s wean ourselves of this mentality that America or any other country can dictate to Nigeria how to run its domestic affairs. Nigeria isn’t a vassal state, but an independent Republic!
    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

  • Apologise to Sowore, Dasuki, others over rights abuse, ex-APC chieftain tells Buhari

    Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to apologise to Omoyele Sowore, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.) and other detained Nigerians for infringing on their rights.

    In a statement made available to journalists yesterday, Frank applauded the senators of the United States of America (USA) and the American government for putting pressure on the Nigerian government to release the duo.

    Thanking Nigerians, especially human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, who fought for justice even with threats to their lives, he argued that but for the pressure by the USA government, Sowore would still be languishing in Directorate of State Services (DSS’s) detention.

    Declaring that, “Truly the American government is the police of the world,” he charged the USA, European Union (EU), United Nations (UN) and all lovers of democracy including Nigerians in the Diaspora to assert more pressure on the Nigerian government to release other political prisoners in the country.

    “President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has succeeded in oppressing its citizens, no more freedom of speech and the right to association.

    Just a few days ago, General Buhari and APC thugs beat Deji Adeyanju to stupor.“The activist was beaten up for protesting against the continued detention of Sowore, yet the ruling party had the nerves to accuse the opposition of masterminding the attack, indeed this government is not only clueless, but shameless,” he stated.

  • Dasuki, Sowore must prove innocence on charges against them – Aremu

    While hailing the release of former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki and Convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore, Labour leader, Comrade Issa Aremu has said they must prove their innocence of the charges against them.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) NEC Member, and General Secretary, Textile Union, Kaduna in a statement on Wednesday said the release of Dasuki and Sowore implies that the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has resumed duties as the chief law officer of the federation.

    Aremu who is equally a Member National Institute, Kuru Jos, said, while burden is on all the state security agencies to allow unfettered judicial process, the released detainees must prove their innocence of the charges against them.

    According to him, “It is remarkable that the Department of State Services has finally complied with the court orders directing it to release some detainees the notable being the convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore and the immediate-past National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.

    “With this singular move it should be assumed that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), has resumed duties as the chief law officer of the Federation.

    “Better late than never. Nigeria has achieved much in quantitative terms, with hundreds of elections, thousands of elected officials at Executive and legislative branches. But there is still huge deficit of democratic culture. It is time to have quality control of Nigeria’s democratic process.

    “Authoritarianism has manifested itself in Nigeria through long years of military rule marked by absence of debate, patience, accountability, intimidation, disregard of civil rights, and non-chalance about due process, and the rule of law, by both some state and non-state actors alike.

    “We must therefore encourage a new Democratic culture that allows for unfettered abiding faith in democratic process. The burden is on all the state security agencies to allow unfettered judicial process while the released detainees must prove their innocence of the charges against them.

    “On the whole, 20 years of democracy task all Nigerians to reinvent a new politics of civic responsibility in which all citizens must shoulder in an organized and disciplined way to demand for free and fair elections and above all accountability from elected officials, failing which we should replace them at election year.

    “Indeed it is the insufficiency of democracy that denies Nigeria the much need economic and social development. The challenge therefore more democracy, not less.

    “The challenge is to deepen democratic process through all inclusive respect for the rule of law, which must start in the new year with the implementation of the new Minimum wage law by both private and public sector employers.” He said.

  • Sowore detained for planning to overthrow Buhari, not for journalism – Presidency

    The Nigeria Government on Wednesday said the government’s decision to keep Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore in detention was because he planned to overthrow President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “Some international news outlets have mistakenly been describing his release as that of a journalist,” Buhari’s media aide Garba Shehu said in a statement.

    “Sowore called for a revolution to overthrow the democratically elected government of Nigeria.”

    Shehu said the Buhari administration has never detained a journalist, seized copies of newspapers or shut down a medium of information since coming to power in 2015.

    The presidential spokesman said Sowore’s arrest was right for any government to prevent any cause for the breakdown of law and order in its public.

    “No government will allow anybody to openly call for destabilization in the country and do nothing,” Shehu said.

    Operatives of the Department of Security Service (DSS) arrested Sowore on Saturday, August 3 after calling for a nationwide protest tagged #RevolutionNow.

    Despite his arrest, protests were held in major parts of the country with a focus on governance and government accountability to the people.

    But the Nigerian government said Sowore was plotting to overthrow Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and charged him with treasonable felony, money laundering and terrorism.

    After disobeying two court orders that granted Sowore bail within the first 124 days he spent in detention, the DSS released him on Thursday, December 5 and rearrested him on Friday, December 6 with no court order to do so.

    The Nigerian Government on Tuesday ordered Sowore’s release from detention alongside a former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki, who has been in detention for over four years despite being granted bail by four courts.

    “I have directed the State Security Services (DSS) to comply with the order granting bail to the Defendants and effect their release,” Nigeria’s justice minister and attorney general of the federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami said in a statement.

    Malami said the decision to release them was in compliance with the bail granted to both Dasuki and Sowore by the courts.

    Shehu, however, insists that Sowore’s protest was a veiled plan to create civil unrest across Nigeria.

    “He (Sowore) did so (called for revolution) on television, and from a privileged position as the owner of a widely-read digital newspaper (Sahara Reporters) run from the United States of America,” Shehu said.

    “He founded an organisation, Revolution Now, to launch, in their own words, “Days of Rage”, with the publicised purpose of fomenting mass civil unrest and the elected administration’s overthrow.”

  • Court tackles DSS boss: Explain why you shouldn’t be sent to prison on ‘Sowore saga’

    The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday asked the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Yusuf Bichi, to give a reason why it should not make an order sending him to prison.

    The court documents which was shown to journalists on Tuesday by a top court official stated that this was a result of the SSS disobeying its orders to release the detained publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore.

    However, the SSS later on Tuesday released Mr Sowore on the order of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.

    One of the court documents was titled: “Notice to show cause why the order of your committal to prison should not be made.”

    “Pursuant to Order 35 Rules 1(1) 2 and 3 of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules, Order IX, Rule (13) of the judgement and (enforcement) Rules, Section 308, Section 72 of the Sheriff and Civil Process Act, 2004.

    “Take notice that this Court shall be moved on the…… day of……..2019 to order for your committal to prison for having neglected to obey and willfully flouting and desecrating the orders made on November, 2019,9 per Hon. Justice Ijeoma 0jukwu mandating you to release the Defendants/Applicant and this Court has been informed that as at today, December 17, 2019, the first Defendant/Applicant is still in your custody.

    “And Further take notice that you are hereby required to attend the court on the first-mentioned day to show cause why an order for your committal should not be made.”

    On two occasions, the court had directed the SSS to release Mr Sowore or the agency would be guilty of contempt and its DG liable to be committed to prison.

    “Take notice that unless you obey the direction contained in the order of the Federal High Court of Justice, Abuja made on the 6 November 2019, which ordered you to release the Defendants/Applicants in Suit No; FHC/ABJ/CR/235/2019 forthwith, you will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison. A copy of the said order of court earlier served on you is hereby annexed for your on-the-spot reference.

    “This court has been informed that even as at today, Tuesday the 12 November 2019 you are yet to comply with the lawful order of the Federal High Court by refusing to release the Defendants/Applicants namely: Omoyele Stephen Sowore and Olawale Adebayo Bakare (MANDATE), in your custody. You are hereby directed to comply with the court order forthwith or you will be guilty of contempt of court,” the document read.

  • Why Buhari ordered Dasuki, Sowore’s release – PDP

    Why Buhari ordered Dasuki, Sowore’s release – PDP

    The People’s Democratic Party has reacted to the release of former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) and convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, from detention.

    In a statement released, the party said President Muhammadu Buhari-led government embarked on the decision because there was nothing more for them to do.

    The statement read: “What is exciting about the directive to release these people? Has this changed their penchant for disobedience of court orders and the rule of law? This government has shown to the world that it is only interested in doing things its own ways regardless of the place of law and democratic order.

    “They felt the heat of national and international pressure; so, there was nothing more for them to do than to order their immediate release. Nigerians are not fooled by this and the government knows it.”

  • Four people who convinced Buhari to release Sowore, Dasuki

    Femi Fani-Kayode, a former minister of aviation, says four people fought from within to ensure the release of Omoyele Sowore, convener of RevolutionNow Movement, and Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser (NSA).

    In a tweet on Tuesday, Fani-Kayode the four individuals were able to convince Buhari to ensure the release of both men.

    He listed them as Abba Kyari, Buhari’s chief of staff; Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation; Kayode Fayemi, chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF); and Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation.

    “I can tell you authoritatively that 4 people fought from within to get Dasuki & Sowore released & eventually managed to convince Buhari. They are Abba Kyari, Malami, Hadi Sirika and Kayode Fayemi. They represent the liberal and cerebral wing of the Buhari Govt. & I commend them,” he wrote.

    Sowore and Dasuki were released from custody hours after Malami directed the Department of State Services (DSS) to release them.

    While Sowore was arrested on August 3, over a nationwide protest, Dasuki was picked up in 2015.

    Although Sowore was released temporarily after 124 days, he was rearrested at a federal high court in Abuja less than 24 hours after.

    While trying to rearrest Sowore, operatives of the DSS had invaded the court, an action which sparked nationwide outrage. Shortly after this, Malami took over the case.