Attorney-General asks DSS to hands off trial of Sowore

Nigeria’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami on Friday ordered the country’s secret police, Department of State Security (DSS) to hands off the trial of detained activist, Omoyele Sowore.

The trial, he said, would now be handled by his office. Sowore is the convener of the #RevolutionNow protests.

The development was conveyed via a statement by the minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr. Umar Gwandu on Friday.

The statement referred to a December 11, 2019 letter sent on behalf of the AGF by the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Dayo Apata (SAN), to the Director-General of DSS, Yusuf Bichi, directing the security agency to “promptly forward all the case files” to the AGF office.

In part, it quoted Apata as saying that “the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice upon a further review of the case, has directed the immediate takeover of the prosecution of all charges in respect of Omoyole Sowore by the Federal Ministry of Justice, in line with the provisions of Sections 150(1) and 174 (1) (a-c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”