Govt’s bid to mask witnesses against me baseless — Sowore

Sahara Reporters publisher and convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore, has urged the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss the Federal Government’s application seeking to have its prosecution witnesses’ faces shielded during proceedings.

Sowore, whom with his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, is being prosecuted before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu on two counts of treasonable felony, stated in his objection filed on Monday that the Federal Government’s application was needless.

The defendants were arrested in August last year for calling for #RevolutionNow protest, which the Federal Government alleged was aimed at toppling the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

But Sowore and Bakare had insisted that the protest was aimed at demanding good governance.

The prosecution led by Mr Aminu Alilu had on March 5, 2020 filed the application asking for permission to have its witnesses masked or shielded from the members of the public in the courtroom during proceedings.

It also asked the court to direct that the real names and addresses of the prosecution witnesses should not be disclosed.

But opposing the application in a counter-affidavit which he filed on Wednesday, Sowore, who noted that he obtained his co-defendant’s consent to depose to it, said there was nothing in the case warranting the shielding of the faces of the prosecution witnesses.

He added that witnesses had been attending court without any harassment.

He also stated that the identities of the said witnesses listed as Rasheed Olawale, Marshal Dele Adelle, Moses Amadi, Paul Clement, Cyril Odwan and Usman Baffa were already in the public domain.

He stated, “That none of the listed witnesses has ever been threatened, harassed or molested by either me or any of my supporters at any time whatsoever.

“That it is these same witnesses to wit: Rasheed Olawale (PSOI), comprising officers such as Marshal Dele Adelle, Moses Amadi, Paul Clement, Cyril Odwan, Usman Baffa whose identities are in the public domain that the complainant/applicant is seeking to shield from public domain.”

The Federal Government’s application may be heard when the trial resumes on Wednesday.