A Federal High Court in Abuja has on Wednesday fined the Federal Government the sum of N200,000 for trial delay of pro-democracy activist and convener of the RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore.
The presiding judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu who said this during the trial of Sowore and his co-defendant Olawole Bakare, on February 12, described the prosecution’s request for the adjournment as frivolous and uncalled for.
The warned that the proceedings would not continue if the prosecution fails to present evidence of the payment of the N200,000 to the defence or come to court with the cash on Thursday.
Justice Ojukwu also expressed dissatisfaction with the prosecution’s failure to serve all necessary documents as ordered by the court over seven weeks ago.
FG’s lawyer, Mr. Kayode Alilu, had explained to the court that the amendment of the charge was necessitated by the fact that the office of the Attorney General of the Federation took over and reviewed the case-file that was handed to it by the Department of State Service, DSS.
She however ordered the prosecution to pay a sum of N200, 000 as the cost to the defendants for the frivolous application for adjournment, then, adjourned the case till February 13.
Meanwhile, among those in court to witness Sowore’s trial on Wednesday included Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, a former Senator that represented Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, popular activist Deji Adeyanju and the erstwhile Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu.
