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Posted By Admin On January 27th, 2025

Nigerian human rights lawyer, Femi Falana SAN has said the bail condition for Omoyele Sowore’s release from police custody had been declared illegal.

DAILY POST reports that Sowore, who was invited by the Nigeria Police on Monday, was asked to produce a level 16 civil servant and surrender his international passport as condition for his bail.

But Sowore, a popular activist and politician outrightly rejected the condition and opted to remain in custody.

In a recent update, Sowore said in a post on his official Facebook page that the team of Police officers assigned to the case, informed him that the DIG of FID, Dasuki Galandachi, has reevaluated his bail conditions.

According to Sowore, the condition has been slashed to only a surety of level 16 civil servant.

However, his lawyer, Falana said the condition had earlier been declared illegal by the Court of Appeal.

In a letter to the Nigeria Police, the lawyer said, “thanks for reducing the bail condition of Mr Omoyele Sowore to a surety of level 16.

“However, I wish to point out that such bail condition has been declared illegal by the Court of Appeal in the case of Dasuki V. Director-General, S.S.S. [2020]10 NWLR PT.1731 PG. 136-143 where Adah JCA (now JSC) held as follows: “Let me quickly say that of concern it is to us that as a court we must be ready and sensitive enough not to allow or do anything that will run foul of the law.

“The issue of involving civil servants or Public Officers in the Public Service of the Federation and the State in bail of people accused of criminal offences has never been the practice in Nigeria or any part of the civilized world.

“It was an oversight on our part to allow it in. Our Civil and Public Service Rules do not have any room for it. Expecting a Level 16 Servant to own property worth N100,000,000, will be running counter to the Public Service Rules and by extension the war against corruption.

“It is in this respect that I will act ex debito justitiae to ensure that the aspect of involving serving Public Servant below the status of Level 16 Officer in either the state or Public Service of the Federation or any of its agencies be removed and I so order.”

Source: https://dailypost.ng/2025/01/27/sowore-your-bail-condition-illegal-femi-falana-blasts-nigeria-police/