#RevolutionNow: Falana dares Buhari to prosecute Sowore in court

A renowned legal practitioner, Femi Falana SAN, on Tuesday dared President Muhammadu Buhari to prosecute the Convener of #RevolutionNow Movement, Omodele Sowore, in court over the Monday mass protest which was foiled by security operatives across the country. The Senior Advocate of Nigeria had noted the tempting gross miscalculation of the Buhari administration to file charges against Sowore, is being detained by the Department of State Services (DSS) since Saturday over the planned Monday protest.

The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had in a statement on Sunday warned that the planned revolutionary protest is tantamount to treasonable felony. The DSS, however, held that Sowore was arrested and being detained over planned public disturbance and threat to peace across the country.

National Dailylearned that Falana at an event organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) on Tuesday, disclosed that Sowore had briefed him from detention that in the case he is being charged, his first witness would be someone in government who in 2011 also called for a revolution.

It was recalled that President Buhari, then, presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), had called for a revolution in Nigeria, however, during the electioneering campaigns.

Falana was said to have noted that Sowore refused to write a statement, insisting the DSS must allow him to speak to his lawyer first.

“I do hope that the government will not be stupid to charge Sowore. In fairness to them (DSS), they gave him a telephone to phone me. Of course, I knew they were monitoring the phone, and I told him I hope they won’t charge you, because if they do, some of the people in government will be our witnesses.

“You know why? One of them, I won’t mention his name; in 2011, he asked Nigerians to learn from the Egyptian revolution and be ready for a revolution in Nigeria. So, he will be my first witness.

“The late Chief Gani Fawehinmi and four other people were charged with treasonable felony by the Ibrahim Babangida junta. I was one of them. We were detained in Kuje prison for two months. We were taken to the court, and what was the offence? I think we went beyond Sowore. We posted thousands of posters across the country that Babangida must go. That was the treasonable felony,” Falana was cited to have declared.

Falana maintained that in defence with Gani Fawehinmi, they contested that the then military president did not come to office through constitutional means. He noted that those in government now harassing Nigerians with treason would someday, too, be tried for treason.

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