The Magistrate court sitting in Abuja on Monday, has ordered the remand of the Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore and four others at Kuje Correctional Centre.
Their formal bail application will be heard tomorrow, January 5, 2020.
Sowore was arrested by the police for leading a protest against bad governance on New Year’s Eve in Abuja.
They subsequently had taken to a police unit infamously known as ‘Abattoir’ in the Lokogoma area of the FCT.
The activists were arraigned before Taye Maibel at the Magistrate Court in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, on Monday by the police after spending four nights in detention.
He is being arraigned alongside four others by the Federal Government on three charges of criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, and attempting to incite others.
They all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Sowore tweets:
“We have been sent to the infamous Kuje Prison for the next 24 hours while they plot their next moves.
“But we are very resolute and convinced that this year will be different for the tyrant! #RevolutionNow,” Sowore tweeted on Monday.
The police lawyer, J. C. Idachaba, told the court that Sowore and other activists were arrested for disturbing the peace of the nation.
When the charges were read, the activists were asked to take plea and they answered not guilty, saying all allegations against them were false.
Idachaba told the court that the police would need more time to investigate, hence the defendants be remanded in custody or prison until the conclusion of investigation.
This was, however, countered by the lawyer representing the defendants from the Femi Falana Chambers, identified as Barrister Marshal.
Marshal said all the defendants are entitled to bail and should be granted in the interest of justice. He then asked the magistrate to grant Sowore and others bail.
After arguments between the two parties, Mrs Maibel asked the defendants’ counsel to formally apply for their bail.
The magistrate said she would sit on Tuesday so that the defendants bail could be filed formally.
In her ruling, she said all the charges are bailable, except if the defendants are deemed likely to evade trial or commit the same offence. She asked that the formal bail application should he brought before here at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday.
While the magistrate said the defendants should be taken to the Wuse police station, the telephone number of the DPO in Wuse could not be reached.
She later ordered that Sowore and others should remanded in Kuje Prison pending the hearing of their bail application.
