The Federal Government has filed a seven-count charge of fraud and treasonable felony against the convener of the #RevolutionNow protest and publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore.
According to Premiumtimes, the charges were filed about 50 days after Sowore was arrested and detained by operatives of the Department of State Services on August 3 in Lagos.
Vigil360 had reported earlier that Officers of Department of State Security (DSS) arrested Mr. Sowore, in the build-up to the #RevolutionNow protest, and accused him of seeking to overthrow the incumbent government. The DSS had said Sowore crossed the redline when he threatened to cause the non-existence if the secret police and government in general after his protest.
Sowore’s lawyers, led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, made attempts to secure his bail but failed after a court granted the DSS power to detain Sowore for 45 days to enable them to conclude the investigation.
On Friday, the federal government filed formal charges accusing Mr. Sowore of making several transfers of $16,975 and $20,475 from his domiciliary account with the United Bank for Africa with the intention to conceal the origin of the money.
Mr. Sowore who was charged alongside another defendant, Olawole Bakare, was also accused of treason for his involvement in organizing the #RevolutionNow protest. The protests held on August 5 in many states across Nigeria despite Mr. Sowore’s arrest. Many people who partook in the protests were also arrested by security officials.