The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday, rejected a request to release the passport of Omoyele Sowore, a human rights activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC).
The judge, Musa Liman, supported the Nigerian police to reject Mr Sowore’s request to travel to the United States of America to meet with his wife and two children and keep a medical appointment with his doctor.
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Mr Sowore, who is being prosecuted by the police on cybercrime charges, stood in the dock on Tuesday for a ruling over his request for the release of his passport for the United States trip.
The activist, who is on bail, faces 16 amended counts of cybercrime filed against him by the Nigerian police.
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The charges stemmed from Mr Sowore’s social media posts referring to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, as an “illegal IGP” for remaining in office beyond statutory retirement age.
During Tuesday’s ruling, Mr Liman, who walked into the courtroom from his chamber at about 12:15 p.m., began reading the ruling as soon as lawyers announced their appearances.
The judge ruled that Mr Sowore “failed to convince the court with the affidavits attached to the application” filed by his lawyer Abubakar Marshal of Falana and Falana chambers.
The judge said the activist omitted the names of his wife and children in the application. He added that the defendant/applicant’s home address in the United States of America and the school where he teaches were not mentioned in the application.
He also argued that the message from Mr Sowore’s doctor in the US seemed to have emanated from an SMS message rather than an email exchange, further casting doubt on the justification for releasing the activist’s passport for travel to the United States.
The judge also faulted the e-ticket for Mr Sowore’s flight to the US which was attached as an affidavit to his application.
Although, Mr Liman declared that Mr Sowore was legally entitled to his freedom of movement, especially since trial had not commenced, he declared “application is hereby dismissed.”
Meanwhile, Deji Adeyanju, who also represented Mr Sowore in court, told journalists that another application would be filed for the release of the activist’s passport.
“It is Omoyele Sowore’s fundamental human right to move freely and travel wherever he likes. This is not the end, we’ll file another application for the release of his passport,” Mr Adeyanju said on Tuesday.
Monday’s hearing
Earlier on Monday, while addressing concerns he personally raised against the application, Mr Liman had firmly rejected the arguments presented by Mr Sowore, and threatened to jail the defendant for requesting permission to speak in court to clarify details regarding the e-ticket and email message.
Police lead counsel, Ibrahim Mohammed, had claimed that he asked a friend at Abuja airport about the ticket and was told it was for a trip to Uganda, not the US.
However, when Mr Sowore and his lawyers clarified to the judge that the e-ticket was indeed for a US. trip, Mr Liman shifted his focus, insisting that Mr Sowore must “provide a comprehensive medical history and a letter from his doctor in the US.” to justify his request.
In response, Mr Sowore’s lawyer, Abubakar Marshal of Falana and Falana Chambers, argued that a medical report was unnecessary since Mr Sowore was not sick and was not seeking medical treatment.
He explained that what had been submitted as evidence was a text message from Sowore’s primary care team at Columbia University, requesting him to schedule a routine medical visit upon his arrival in the US.
At that point, Mr Sowore asked Mr Liman for further clarification on the matter, but the judge refused, stating that he could not speak for himself.
They had long targeted my passport – Sowore
Reacting to Tuesday’s ruling, Mr Sowore said that he was not surprised by the judge’s actions, alleging that there was a scheme by the government to withhold his passport for long.
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“We predicted this outcome, and the judge has done his worst denying me the passport they had targeted all along. There is nothing surprising about today’s decision. We knew from the beginning that they were working together to deny me my right to freedom of movement and prevent me from exercising my fundamental rights as a Nigerian citizen,” Mr Sowore said, adding that “this is something they have done since my university days when I was expelled twice by the military. The persecution has never stopped.”
Before his arraignment, Mr Sowore was invited by the Force Criminal Investigation Department over a tweet the police deemed offensive.
The court granted him bail on 30 January under stringent conditions, including a N10 million bond and the surrendering of his passport.
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