FIVE persons arrested by the State Security Service (SSS) operatives at the headquarters of Dunamis Church for wearing #BuhariMustGo branded shirts clothes have been granted bail.
The protesters -Ben Manasseh, Anene Udoka, Henry Nwodo, Emmanuel Larry, and Samuel Gabriel Iwatonaiye -were given bail in the sum of N500,000 by a magistrate court on Wednesday.
This is coming after an Abuja Federal High Court had, in a separate judgement on Monday, ordered the SSS to release the protesters.
Lawyer to the protesters Tope Temokun had, in separate ex-parte applications, sued the SSS: President Muhammadu Buhari; the church’s pastor-in-charge, Paul Enenche; and others for alleged unlawful arrest and detention.
The plaintiffs, who urged the court to declare their arrest and detention unlawful, also asked the court to award N10 million each, in damages, for the violation of their fundamental rights.
Temokun had argued in separate suits that his clients were entitled to the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, right to freedom of expression and the press, right to freedom from discrimination, and right to personal liberty.
The presiding judge Anwuli Chikere, in his ruling, ordered the SSS to release the applicants with immediate effect and adjourned the matter to August 2 for trial.
It is now becoming customary for security operatives under the Buhari-led administration to pick up armless protesters and slam them with bogus charges in court. In several cases, security operatives, most especially the SSS, blatantly disobey court orders to free some of these protesters.
In April, two persons wearing #BuhariMustGo branded shirts were assaulted by violent youths and eventually they were arrested and detained by the Police.
Emmanuel Larry and Victor Udoka were released on bail in June after spending 68 days in the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Centre in Kabba, Kogi State.
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