Federation and Minister of Justice, urging him to use his position “to
without delay enter a nolle prosequi and discontinue the prosecution of
the Convener of ‘RevolutionNow’ protest and publisher of Sahara
Reporters, Mr Omoyele Sowore, and Olawale Bakare, also known as Mandate
for apparently politically motivated charges of treason, fraud and
‘insulting President Muhammadu Buhari’.”
SERAP said: “We urge you to use your role as a trustee of the public
interest under section 174 of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as
amended) to end several of similar trumped-up cases going on in several
states.”
In the letter dated 21 September 2019 and signed by SERAP deputy
director Kolawole Oluwadare, the group said: “Sowore’s case and several
similar cases instigated/brought by state governors make a hideous
mockery of Nigeria’s criminal justice systems, rule of law, freedom of
expression and media freedom. These cases are persecution and not
prosecution. As guardian of the public interest, you have a role to end
this travesty now, and to maintain the sanctity and integrity of
Nigeria’s justice system.”
SERAP also said: “These cases set a dangerous precedent for the misuse
and subversion of the justice system, which may lead to the
politicization of judiciary. This will be bad for everyone—ordinary
citizens, journalists and even the politicians in power, as they may
themselves become targets of these repressive and abusive tactics when
they are out of power/in opposition.”
The letter read in part: “While the Nigerian government has the
responsibility to prevent and prosecute criminal offences, it ought to
do so lawfully, and in full compliance with human rights and the rule of
law. Exercising your constitutional independence and discretion to
withdraw these kinds of charges would meet the text of reasonableness,
demands of justice, and as noted, serve the public interest.”
“Laws against terrorism and money laundering should be properly used,
and not to undermine critical voices, activists, and the media. Invoking
the charges of treasonable felony to unjustifiably or arbitrarily
restrict the right to freedom of opinion and expression would minimise
the seriousness with which our laws traditionally treat such offences,
and undermine the essence of the criminal justice system and the rule of
law.”
“If not urgently addressed, the misuse of the criminal justice system
and politicization of Nigeria’s judiciary would jeopardise the
independence of the judiciary and the rule of law and lower the public
estimation of the ability of our justice system to serve as the last
hope of justice for desperate victims. Unless these bogus charges are
immediately withdrawn, there is a danger that the public interest
represented by the courts and that represented by your role, might part
company.”
“Attacks on journalism are fundamentally at odds with protection of
freedom of expression and access to information, which in turn is key to
promoting transparency and accountability, and the achievement of the
government’s anti-corruption agenda.”
“Withdrawing this case would send a strong message to many state
governors that your office will not accept their persistent abuse of the
criminal justice systems to jail journalists, bloggers and activists,
just as it is, for example, the case in Cross River State, where
journalists Agba Jalingo and Ekanem Ekpo have been charged with treason
and now being detained for 90 days simply for reporting about an
alleged diversion of N500 million by the Cross River governor, Ben
Ayade.”
“As Nigeria’s Chief Law Officer, it is vital to our democracy, judicial
independence and rule of law for you to stop the Federal Government and
state governors from misrepresenting the country’s constitutional
jurisprudence and international obligations in the matters of freedom of
expression and media freedom.”
“SERAP notes that last Friday the Federal Government filed a seven-count
charge of cybercrimes of insulting Mr Buhari, money laundering and
treasonable felony against Sowore and Bakare. The charges followed their
detention by security operatives on 2nd August, 2019. Order was his
detention was not made until the 8th of August.
“SERAP also notes that at a forum we organized in June 2019 to discuss
the legality of the Cybercrimes Act, your representative and the Head of
Cybercrimes Prosecution Unit in the Ministry of Justice Mr. Terlumun
George Tyendezwa said the Justice Ministry was committed to pursuing the
amendment of the Act, to remove its repressive provisions like insulting
public officials, which is now being used in this case, and frequently
to undermine freedom of expression, media freedom and provide special
protection for public figures including president and state governors.”
“Nigerian constitution and international human rights treaties such as
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African
Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to which Nigeria is a state party
protect even shocking and offensive speech.”
“Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
guarantee everyone’s right to hold opinions without interference and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless
of frontiers and through any media, including in the form of art.”
“The Human Rights Committee in fact underlines in General Comment 34
that laws should not provide for more severe penalties solely on the
basis of the identity of the person and that the value placed by the
Covenant upon uninhibited expression is particularly high in cases
involving public or political figures. Thus, the mere fact that forms of
expression are considered to be insulting to these figures is not
sufficient to justify the imposition of penalties.”
“These restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom cannot
meet the basic tests of legality, reasonableness and proportionality. It
is normal for expression to provoke controversy, reaction and discourse,
even anger but not punishment, fear and silence.”
“We hope that the aspects highlighted will help guide your actions in
acting to withdraw the charges against Sowore and Bakare, and several
other similar charges instigated or brought by state governors across
the county. We would be happy to provide further information or to
discuss any of these issues in more detail with you.”