Contempt: Court Threatens To Jail DSS Boss Over Sowore’s Illegal Detention

November 26, 2019

Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has threatened to commit the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi to prison, over the continued detention of the convener of the #revolutionnow movement, and his co-accused Olawale Bakare.

Justice Ojukwu gave the warning on Monday after previously issuing a “notice of consequences of disobedience of court order,” on the DSS.

The court warned that unless the DSS director general obeyed the order of the Federal High Court ordering him to release the defendants, he would be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison.

Sowore was arrested on August 3, 2019 for planning a protest which gained public attention under the hashtag #revolutionnow and has been in detention since then.

Although they had been granted bail twice, both Sowore and Bakare have still not been released by the DSS, which insists that Sowore would only be released to his sureties.

Sowore has also filed a suit against the agency demanding N500 million for illegally detaining him and violating his fundamental human rights.