How Nigerian authorities offered Sowore ‘death warrant’ deal – Falana

The lead counsel to embattled former Nigerian presidential candidate and journalist Omoyele Sowore said that the Nigerian authorities reached out for a deal during Sowore’s first 45 days in detention.

“They went to a court behind us and got an order to detain Sowore for 45 days to investigate his alleged terrorism,” Femi Falana said on TVC’s Your View on Monday.

“At the end of the investigation, nothing was found but they went to him in detention to reach a deal,” Falana said.

Falana said the State Security Service also reached out to him so as to convince Sowore when they could not persuade the Sahara Reporters’s publisher to take the deal he was offered.

“When they could not succeed, they met me and they wanted me to persuade him to agree to sign his death warrant and I told them off,” he said.

Falana said the intelligence agency “filed charges” against Sowore when they could not convince him to take the deal.

Sowore and his co-defendant Olawale Bakare were accused of treasonable felony, cyberstalking President Muhammadu Buhari and money laundering.

Sowore is being held by the intelligence agency since his arrest on August 3 — despite two court orders granting him bail. The journalist was released briefly on Thursday after a federal court gave the intelligence agency a 24-hour ultimatum to release Sowore pending his trial.

He was re-arrested on Friday after a dramatic show at the court. His lawyer Femi Falana said in a statement on Sunday that the DSS invaded the court where a hearing into his case was going. That bid caused chaos in the court and was unsuccessful.