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Court reduces Sowore’s bail terms. Is political settlement in the offing?
Reprieve has finally come the way of the co-convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, as the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Monday reduced the bail conditions slammed on him and his lieutenant, Olawale Bakare.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, who had earlier slammed an N100m bail bond on Sowore, reduced the bail terms to N50million, while that of Bakare was slashed from N50million to N20million.
Sowore, a former presidential candidate and Bakare were arraigned on a seven-count charge of treasonable felony, cyberstalking, and money laundering.
Read also: Useni approaches Appeal Court to quash Lalong’s election
He was picked up about three months ago by the Department of State Services (DSS) following his call for revolution against President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The judge also ruled that the sureties to the defendants are no longer required to deposit evidence of the funds with the court registrar.
The initial bail conditions slammed on the publisher of Sahara Reporters scared away would-be sureties who felt only a political settlement or intervention of elder statesmen would take him away from the DSS custody.
The case of the now-exiled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, also came to the fore as those who paved way for his release were arraigned in court few weeks after the IPOB leader fled the country due to soldiers’ invasion of his country home.
Many have also expressed concerns that the detained activist’s media entity, Sahara Reporters, had been a scourge to the high and mighty that influential citizens are unwilling to sacrifice their lot for him.
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