The Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, and Aloy Ejimakor, a member of the legal team representing the detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, have been granted bail by a Magistrate Court sitting in Kuje Area Council of Abuja
Ruling on their applications Friday, October 24, the Court also granted bail to Kanu’s brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, and 10 other persons.
Conditions for their release include a bail sum of N500,000 each, submission of their National Identification Numbers (NIN), three-year tax clearance certificates, and depositing their passports at the court, with two sureties in like sum.
All 13 defendants are facing charges of unlawful assembly, inciting public disturbance and breach of peace in connection with the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest held on Monday, October 20, in Abuja.
Ejimakor, Emmanuel and the other 10 defendants were arrested during the protest and later remanded at the Kuje Correctional facility.
On his part, Sowore, a firmer Presidential candidate in the 2023 polls, was taken into custody on October 23 at the Federal High Court premises in Abuja after attending Kanu’s terrorism trial to show solidarity.
The 13 defendants are: Omoyele Sowore, Aloy Ejimakor, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, Joshua Emmanuel, Bishop Wilson Anyalewechi, Okere Kingdom Nnamdi, Clinton Chimeneze, Gabriel Joshua, Isiaka Husseini, Onyekachi Ferdinand, Amadi Prince, Edison Ojisom, and Godswill Obiama.
According to the amended First Information Report, updated to include Sowore’s name, the protesters committed, “Criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, membership of an unlawful assembly, joining or continuing in unlawful assembly knowing it has been commanded to disperse, disobedience of order duly promulgated by a public servant, inciting disturbance, and disturbance of public peace contrary to sections 100, 101, 104, 152, 114 and 113 of the Penal Code Law.”
Also, it was alleged that the defendants obstructed the movement of other citizens, disrupted the free flow of traffic, and chanted war songs while demanding Kanu’s release, in a manner said to threaten national security.
The charge further stated: “That you, Omoyele Sowore, fled upon sighting security agents and were later arrested. You thereby committed the above-mentioned offences.”
