The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has fixed July 8, 2020, for the hearing of the appeal filed by human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, challenging his bail condition at the Federal High Court.
The case, which was slated for the adoption of the brief on Wednesday, June 3, 2020, could not go on following the preliminary objection filed by the government’s lawyer, Aliyu Kayode.
Sowore’s lawyer, Abubakar Marshall, had told the court to discountenance the preliminary objection, adding that the respondent’s brief had not been filed as required by procedure.
Marshall argued that the right procedure was for them to file ‘respondent brief’ and incorporate their objections into it to enable them file reply brief as recognized by the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
Kayode, therefore, pleaded for an adjournment to enable him to file his respondent brief as required by law.
Meanwhile, the court pointed out that the notice of preliminary objection filed without the respondent’s brief was not proper.
The matter was therefore adjourned to July 8 for the hearing of appeal while the respondent was required to file its brief before then.
Ijeoma Ojukwu, the presiding judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja had on October 21, 2019, varied the bail condition granted but Sowore remains restricted to Abuja and also barred from speaking to the press.
