The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Monday discharged Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare of an alleged treasonable felony charge by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime.

In a ruling, Justice Emeka Nwite struck out the matter after A.R. Tahir, the counsel for the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, withdrew the charge.

“In view of the application made by the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation, this charge, between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Omoyele Sowore and another, is hereby struck out and the defendants discharged,” he declared.

Mr Nwite ordered the State Security Service (SSS) to immediately release three phones and N10,000 seized from Mr Sowore during his arrest. He equally ordered that Mr Sowore’s international passport be released.

The judge also ordered the SSS to release a phone belonging to Mr Bakare, and N1,500 confiscated from him during his arrest.

The orders followed an application by a lawyer to Messrs Sowore and Bakare, Femi Falana (SAN), to the effect.

Messrs Sowore and Bakare (first and third defendants) were arraigned before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu in 2019 before the matter was reassigned to Mr Nwite.

The federal government had dragged them to court on allegations of treason and attempts to overthrow the former Buhari regime.

When the matter was called, Ms Tahir, an assistant chief state counsel from the Federal Ministry of Justice, informed the court that she had a notice of discontinuance of the case dated February 14 but filed February 15 before the court.

Ms Tahir said the application was filed pursuant to the powers conferred on the AGF in section 174(1), Paragraph C of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and section 107(1) of Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

The lawyer, who said that presently, a hearing in the matter was yet to commence, urged the court to strike out the charge. But Mr Falana disagreed with Ms Tahir’s submission.

Mr Falana, who argued that contrary to her submission, the matter had been partly heard, prayed the court to dismiss the case.

The senior lawyer reminded that before the matter was reassigned to Justice Nwite, the first prosecution witness had been taken before Justice Ojukwu.

“My learned friend did not remember then. It was Mr Hassan Liman that was prosecuting the matter. To that extent, the matter ought to be dismissed,” he added.

Mr Falana, however, commended the AGF and Minister of Justice for taking the bold step.

“I wish to appreciate the position of the AGF and Minister of Justice, Mr Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbermi, SAN, for taking a hint from this honourable court because the court said in the last adjournment that this matter would be dismissed, even if heaven will fall.

“Finally, we are compelled to profess our sincere gratitude to this honourable court for the threat to have this matter dismissed for want of diligent prosecution,” he said.

He said though he would not be asking for a cost on behalf of the defendants who had been standing trial since 2019, he urged the court to make an order compelling the SSS to return Mr Sowore’s three phones, and N10,000 seized from him during his arrest.

Mr Falana also prayed the court to order the SSS to release a phone belonging to Bakare and the sum of N1,500 seized from him during his arrest.

The lawyer equally urged the court to make an order to release Mr Sowore’s travel documents and the title deeds submitted to the court as conditions for his bail.

Mr Tahir, however, opposed Mr Falana’s application for the court to dismiss the case. She argued that it was in the court record that the matter started denovo (afresh) after it was reassigned.

“My lord, the learner silk pointed out that there was a counsel handling the matter, but it was not within my knowledge to confirm that,” she said

She insisted that since the charge had not commenced before the court, the proper thing to do was for the charge to be struck out.

Delivering his ruling, Justice Nwite aligned with Ms Tahir that the matter started afresh before him after reassignment.

He held that in any criminal proceeding, the AGF had the power to discontinue a matter, even where a suspect had been committed to prison or was on bail.

“Without much ado, the provision of ACJA is clear and unambiguous,” he said while striking out the charge.

The judge had, on February 14, threatened to strike out the charge for lack of diligent prosecution.

(NAN)