…as party expels embattled ex-presidential candidate
The convener of ‘#RevolutionNow’ protests, Omoyele Sowore, has filed an application to challenge the court order which granted the Department of State Services (DSS) the permission to detain him for 45 days.
In a motion on notice filed on Friday, he asked the Federal High Court to set aside the ex parte order of the court for his detention.
Sowore, in the motion which has a suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/915/2019 filed by his lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, is also asking for such order or other orders as the court may deem fit and proper to make in the circumstances.
The application is predicated on 18 grounds, including that the said order breached the fundamental rights provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Mr Falana said Sowore’s detention for an initial four days period before the grant of the ex-parte order was illegal by virtue of Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
He averred that the order brought pursuant to Section 27 (1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2013, was obtained by the DSS to legalise his client’s illegal detention.
According to the human rights activist, the DSS had concluded investigation of the case and announced its findings via a press briefing.
He added that the motion ex-parte was predicated on suppression and misrepresentation of material facts and based on a wrong presumption and mistake, thereby constituting a gross abuse of court processes.
However, no date has been fixed for hearing of the motion.
Meanwhile, Sowore has been expelled from his party, the African Action Congress (AAC).
Sowore was expelled along with 28 other persons.
The party took the decision at the National Convention in Owerri, Imo State.
The reason for his expulsion is not yet known.
