Court adjourns Sowore, Bakare’s trial till April 1, as FG calls first witness

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, on Wednesday, adjourned trial of pro-democracy activist and convener of the RevolutionNow protest, Mr. Omoleye Sowore and his co-defendant, Olawole Bakare, till April 1.

Trial Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu adjourned the case on a day the Federal Government, through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, called its first prosecution witness, PW-1, to establish the two-count treasonable felony charge it filed against the defendants.

However, the witness, Mr. Rasheed Olawale, who is a Principal Staff Officer of the Department of State Service, DSS, could not proceed with his oral evidence before the court, following an objection that was raised by counsel to the defendants, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN.

Falana told the court that the prosecution served his clients with the summary statement of the witness.

He noted that the witness was giving oral evidence on issues that were outside his written statement that was served on the defendants.

Though the prosecution counsel, Mr. Aminu Halilu, insisted that copies of summary statement of the witness was duly served on the defendants, Justice Ojukwu, however, upheld Falana’s objection.

The trial Judge held that it would be wrong for the court to allow the witness to depose to a four-paragraphed statement and then proceed to give a shred of 10-paged oral evidence.

Consequently, Justice Ojukwu directed the prosecution counsel to serve full statements of all the proposed witnesses on the defendants, even as she adjourned the matter to April 1.

The court equally deferred hearing of the motion FG filed to shield identities of other witnesses it intends to produce against the defendants.

The prosecution counsel had requested for time to respond to a counter-affidavit that Sowore and Bakare filed to challenge FG’s motion to conduct their trial in secret.

The defendants had urged the court not to allow FG to mask the witnesses, insisting there was nothing in the charge against them that should also warrant the exception of members of the public from observing their trial.

Sowore told the court that identities of all the proposed witnesses are already in the public domain.

FG had in a five paragraphed affidavit that was deposed to by one Noma Wando, a litigation officer in the Department of Public Prosecution, Federal Ministry of Justice, told the court that the witnesses, “are afraid of giving evidence, unless they are protected, for fear of being murdered by the defendants, his cohorts or members of the ‘Revolution Now’ protest group across the country”.