to the press release of the Department of State Services (DSS) in
which it absolved itself of responsibility for the armed invasion of
the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Falana, in a statement he personally signed on Sunday,
condemned the DSS for what he called the desecration of Court
No 7 of Hon. Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu and the illegal rearrest of
Omoyele Sowore.
He said the DSS pretended to forget that the abominable
desecration of the Federal High Court was covered live by
domestic and international media outlets and journalists.
The full statement made available to DAILY POST reads:
“The Service argues on the one hand that the arrest of Sowore
was “stage managed” by his supporters in order to give the
Service a bad name whilst also admitting at the same time that
officers of the Service arrested Sowore outside the Court.
“Having declared that the Service arrested Sowore “outside the
court”, despite the “stage managing” argument, what the Nigerian
people want to see happen is the immediate release of Sowore,
pending his trial as ordered by the court.
“INDUBITABLE FACTS CONFIRMING DESECRATION OF COURT
AND RE-ARREST BY THE SERVICE
“However, the following facts underscore our insistence that the
Service was solely responsible for the desecration of the hallowed
chambers of the court: By the advantage of information
technology, the whole world has placed responsibility for the
gangsteric desecration of the court on the SSS.
“The SSS cannot extricate itself from the abominable acts of 6th
December, 2019. When I informed the court that fresh charges
were being filed against our clients and that they could be re-
arrested, the prosecution denied any such plan. As soon as the
case was adjourned the SSS pounced on Sowore and caused a
disruption of the proceedings of the court.
“Having taken over the courtroom vi et armis Justice Ojukwu
hurriedly rose and asked the Registrar to adjourn all other cases.
After the learned trial judge had risen for the day she summoned
the heads of the prosecution and defence teams to her chambers.
“When the lead prosecutor, Dr. Liman Hassan SAN, denied
knowledge of the invasion of her court she directed him to invite
the head of the SSS team in the court. When challenged to justify
the invasion of the court the officer could not. He apologised to
Justice Ojukwu on behalf of the SSS.
“The judge then directed the officer to withdraw the SSS
operatives from the courtroom. The directive was complied with
as the operatives withdrew from the courtroom but rushed out to
join their colleagues who had taken over the entire court house.
“Notwithstanding that the SSS could not produce any warrant of
arrest for Sowore the defence team decided that I should
accompany him to the SSS headquarters in view of his physical
brutalisation inside the courtroom and the open threat to his life.
I did and ensured that he was driven in my car to the SSS
headquarters where I handed him over to the officers on duty.
“Thereafter, I requested for a meeting with the head of the SSS
but I was informed that he was not in the office. Though,
ordinarily, officers of the Service do not wear any uniform, on the
6th day of December, some of them were in mufti, many were not
only armed but also masked while others disguised in lawyer’s
black and white suit.
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