The Federal high court sitting in Abuja granted bail to a former presidential aspirant and activist, Omoyele Sowore on Thursday, January 30, in the sum of N10 million with one surety in the same amount.
As part of the conditions for bail, Justice Musa Liman held that the surety must be a responsible individual with landed property valued in like sum.
They are required to submit the original documents of the property along with a passport photograph to the court registrar.
While ruling on the bail application, Justice Musa Liman ordered Sowore to surrender his international passport to the court registrar.
The judge granted him 24 hours to meet the bail conditions, warning that failure to do so would result in his detention by the police until the conditions are fulfilled.
The bail ruling follows 17 counts of cybercrime charges brought against Sowore by the Nigerian Police, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
The charges stem from an alleged tweet by Sowore, in which he referred to the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, as the “illegal IGP.”
The police claimed that the statement was false and intended to incite public disorder.
Sowore’s counsel, Marshall Abubakar, had urged the court to grant lenient bail conditions, arguing that his client posed no flight risk and had always made himself available for legal proceedings.
However, the prosecution counsel, Udey Jonathan, opposed the bail request, urging the court to impose strict conditions to ensure Sowore’s appearance throughout the trial.
