A pressure group on the aegis of ‘Northern Ethnic Youth Group Assembly (NEYGA)’ has called for the prosecution of the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, for allegedly leaking video clips of his lawyer cross-examining a Department of State Services (DSS) operative in an alleged cyberbullying suit brought against him by the secret police.
NEYGA described the leaked video as “contempt of court, a mockery of our judicial system, and a breach of national security,” which could make an offender spend up to 32 years in jail.
NEYGA in a statement by Ibrahim Dan-Musa, spokesperson of the group, noted that the video which was ostensibly leaked by the defendant (Sowore), exposed the identity of the secret service agent, thereby breaching the National Security Agencies Act (1986) and the Official Secrets Act (1962).
It further said; “In the United States where Sowore has lived for decades, blowing the cover of a secret service agent is a breach of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, and is a very serious crime.
“In Nigeria, blowing the cover of a secret service agent, who swore to an oath of secrecy, is both a breach of both the National Security Agencies Act (1986) and the Official Secrets Act of 1962.
“Sowore and his lawyer should have known better. He is undergoing trial for alleged cyberbullying. However, with the leaked footage of a secret service agent, he could face a more serious charge of breaching the National Security Agencies Act (1986) and the Official Secrets Act of 1962.
“Ignorance, they say, is not an excuse to breach the law. Personnel of the DSS are bound by a strict oath of secrecy to protect national security, official documents, and classified information, the reason people like Sowore often call the agency ‘secret police’” NEYGA stated.
The group further said that to be sure, the punishment for breaching this law includes facing up to 20 years in prison in addition to fines and asset forfeiture.
“This disrespectful conduct by the defendant must not be left to go unpunished. We most respectfully urge his Lordship to mete out appropriate sanctions on the defendant who, by his disrespectful conduct, attempted to turn the hallowed chambers of His Lordship into a circus.
“It is of outmost importance to teach the defendant a hard lesson that Nigeria is not the Banana Republic he and his ilk depict on social media”.
In the about 12-minute video clip, which has since gone viral, Sowore’s lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, was captured cross-examining a witness identified as an operative of the DSS.
The video clip also captured an objection by the DSS counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as well as a ruling by the trial judge.
