The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upturned the ruling of the Federal High Court confining human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) since August 2019.
A three-man panel led by Justice Tsammani made the judgement on Wednesday.
Operatives of the Department of State Services had arrested Sowore in the early hours of August 3, 2019 for calling on Nigerians to take to the streets in peaceful demonstrations to demand a better country from the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The activist was kept in unlawful detention from that period until December 5, 2019 when he was finally released on bail despite two court orders earlier sanctioning his freedom.
In a twist of event, DSS operatives invaded the Federal High Court in Abuja on December 6, 2019 to rearrest him without any court order.
He remained in unlawful detention until 18 days later when he was released by the secret police for the second time.
The trial judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, had granted Sowore N100million bail with two sureties who must be residents of Abuja and have landed properties within the Federal Capital Territory.
The judge also ordered that one of the sureties must deposit N30million with the court pending the determination of the case.
Sowore was also restricted to the Federal Capital Territory pending the determination of the case.
The activist however, approached the Appeal Court over the stringent bail conditions especially his restriction to Abuja.
