A Chief Magistrate court sitting in Wuse Abuja, has granted bail to rights campaigner and online publisher, Omoyele Sowore, and four other defendants on stringent conditions. 

The presiding magistrate ruled that she will be pinned on one point upon the allegation on which Sowore and co were brought to court and which their bail application was made and that is the possibility of the accused appearing in court and the likelihood for them to commit the same offence. 

The magistrate who noted the prayer of the prosecuting counsel that the defendants be kept away says she would rule according to the gravity of the offence. 

Bail was granted to defendants 2 to 5 with 1 million Naira with restrictions to Abuja, while bail was granted to Sowore in the sum of N20 million with a level 12 civil servant as surety and conditions that he reports to the registrar of the court on Mondays and Fridays. 

The defendants were arrested on New Year’s Eve in what has been described as state clamp down on peaceful protests and right to freedom of expression. 

They were illegally detained for days before they were later arraigned on charges of breach of public peace and violation of covid-19 protocol, charges that have now laughably attracted bail conditions of up to N20 million.