The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, has taken over the case against the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, from the Department of State Services.
A statement by the minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr. Umar Gwandu, gave this confirmation.
The statement referred to a December 11, 2019 letter sent on behalf of the AGF by the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Mr. 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.
It quoted Apata’s letter as stating 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).
The statement by the media aide of the minister indicated that the move to take over the case from the DSS was to ensure speedy completion of the case.
The development was due to the disgraceful handling of the case with the invasion of Federal High Court in Abuja by the operatives of the security agency in their bid to rearrest Sowore on December 6.
