The American Bar Association (ABA) Center for Human Rights, in partnership with U.S.-based rights group – Clooney Foundation for Justice has accused Nigeria’s attorney-general Abubakar Malami and the State Security Service of “prosecutorial misconduct” against activist Omoyele Sowore.

Mr. Sowore, who currently faces charges of treason, having earlier been arraigned for terrorism, cyberstalking and money laundering following his calls for #Revolution Now protests, has been restrained by a federal court from exiting Nigeria’s capital Abuja.

The U.S. association of lawyers in its December 17 preliminary report on Mr. Sowore’s prosecution, argued that the new charges preferred against him had insufficiently proven his alleged plan to overthrow the Buhari administration.

“The totality of the facts strongly suggests that the charges against Mr. Sowore were levied in retaliation for his political activism, in violation of his rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and that the prosecution (first pursued by the DSS and then taken over by the AGF) has never possessed evidence on which to predicate allegations of criminal behavior,” the association said in its report.

It added that: “Eight months into the proceedings (after the AGF assumed control of the case), the prosecution dropped five of the seven charges without explanation,”

“Notably, the amended charge sheet, which contains the two remaining counts of treason and conspiracy to commit treason, does not set forth any facts to support the allegation that Mr. Sowore had sought to overthrow the government by unlawful means.”

The attorneys said charges against Mr. Sowore breached prosecutorial ethics and admonished the Buhari administration to drop them — or at the very least allow the embattled activist to return to his family in the United States pending the resumption of his delayed trial.

The Buhari administration has been severally accused of inordinately delaying Mr. Sowore’s prosecution, in light of his pre-trial detention after his commando-style arrest by SSS agents in August 2019, as well as the government’s defiance of court orders mandating his release and the frequent adjournment of hearings.

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had earlier asked the Buhari government to immediately drop all charges against Mr. Sowore and make reparation to the Sahara Reporters publisher for his prolonged incarceration last year.