A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday rejected an application by the Federal Government to mask all the witnesses billed to testify against convener of #RevolutionNow movement Omoleye Sowore and his co-defendant Olawale Bakare.
Sowore and Bakare are facing charges for treasonable felony.
Midway into the testimony of its first witness, a principal staff officer of the Department of State Services Rasheed Olawale, the Federal Government pleaded with the court to shield the identities of other pending witnesses.
The prosecution in a five-paragraphed affidavit deposed to by one Noma Wando, a litigation officer in the Department of Public Prosecution, Federal Ministry of Justice, told the court that the remaining witnesses “are afraid of giving evidence unless they are protected, for fear of being murdered by the defendants, his cohorts or members of the #RevolutionNow protest group across the country.”
But the defence team led by human rights lawyer Femi Falana and Abubakar Marshall insisted there was nothing in the charge to warrant the exception of members of the public from observing the trial.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu held that though the court has the powers to grant such request, she said the prosecution failed to adduce any evidence that #RevolutionNow is a proscribed group that has been involved in acts of violence.
Consequently, though the court declined to shield identities of the witnesses, it limited the number of people to be allowed to participate in subsequent proceedings in the case to 20 persons due to Covid-19 protocols.
The case was adjourned to January 25, February 4 and 5, 2021.
