Court Dismisses Charges Against #RevolutionNow Protesters In Ogun

 

An Ogun State Magistrate’s Court in Abeokuta has dismissed the criminal charges filed against four of the #RevolutionNow protesters in Ogun State.

 

According to Punch, the defendants; Daniel Abraham, Festus Afofun, Kolawole Seun and Okoro Romeo were reportedly arrested on August 5 while participating in the national #RevolutionNow protest convened by activist Omoyele Sowore.

 

The defence lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, said in a statement on Wednesday that the magistrate, Mr. O. A. Onagoruwa, discharged and acquitted the four defendants following a no-case submission he (Effiong) made on their behalf.

 

According to him, the defendants were charged with three counts of conspiracy, unlawful assembly and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace.

 

The lawyer said his clients pleaded not guilty during their arraignment on August 7, 2019.

 

Effiong quoted the magistrate as saying in Wednesday’s ruling that “the prosecution failed to establish any of the essential elements of the three counts.”

 

He described the ruling as “a vindication of our position that the Nigerian government had no basis in law to have arrested, detained or arraigned citizens who called for revolution during the peaceful protest of August 5, 2019.”

 

Effiong said, “I have consistently said that the case is a disgraceful attempt by the government to silence voices of dissent. This is just the beginning of the end of the shambolic attempt by this regime to illegally deploy the judicial process in a dubious and immoral manner.”