BY GODWIN OBI
The trial of politician and online publisher Omoyele Sowore, who is facing allegations of making defamatory remarks against Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was stalled on Thursday following the absence of the presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Umar.
Sowore is being prosecuted before a Federal High Court in Abuja by the Department of State Services (DSS) for allegedly making a false claim about the President by referring to him as a criminal in a post shared on his X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook accounts.
Sowore’s lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, had been scheduled to conclude his cross-examination of the first prosecution witness (PW1), Cyril Nosike, but proceedings could not continue because the judge was away on an official assignment outside the court.
Sowore, his counsel Abubakar, the witness Nosike, and the prosecuting lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), were all present when a court official announced that the hearing would be postponed due to the judge’s absence.
Earlier proceedings had witnessed legal arguments over the admissibility of documents sought to be tendered by the defence.
In a ruling delivered on February 4, Justice Umar declined an oral application by Abubakar to admit a set of documents containing printouts of media publications into evidence. The publications included reports about the DSS dismissing 115 officials for misconduct, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charging five former governors with corruption, the EFCC dismissing 27 of its officials over fraud and misconduct, and the arrest of some former Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited staff over an alleged N7.2 billion fraud.
Justice Umar agreed with the prosecuting lawyer that the defence could only tender such documents during its own stage of presenting evidence.
“You cannot tender a document through a witness who said he did not know anything about it. The document is marked as rejected,” the judge ruled.
The court also rejected another set of documents which the defence said contained publications where President Tinubu allegedly described former President Goodluck Jonathan as a “drunkard” and “a sinking fisherman,” and referred to former President Olusegun Obasanjo as “expired meat.”
Justice Umar rejected the documents for the same reason, noting that the prosecution witness could not be used to tender materials he had no knowledge of.
The judge also expressed concern over a report by the prosecuting lawyer that a member of the defence team had live-streamed earlier court proceedings. Kehinde urged the court to order an investigation to identify the individual responsible.
Although Abubakar denied that any member of the defence team was involved—suggesting it might have been done by officials of the DSS or individuals within the presidency—the judge described the act as contempt of court.
Justice Umar stated that it would be easy to identify the person responsible and that security agencies could be directed to investigate the matter, describing it as serious. However, he did not address the issue further when adjourning the case.
During cross-examination, the DSS witness, Nosike, stated that when Sowore made the post in question, the President’s official X handle was @officialABAT, rejecting the defence’s suggestion that it was @PBAT.
Nosike said he had not tendered any court judgment before the court to prove that corruption had ended in Nigeria.
When asked whether corruption existed in the country, the witness said he was not a politician and could not comment on such matters.
“I am not here to give my opinion, but to state the facts,” he said.
The witness also rejected the defence claim that the DSS dismissed 115 officials for corruption, explaining that those affected were removed following internal investigations and not necessarily for corruption as alleged.
Nosike further denied knowledge of several issues raised by the defence, including reports that the EFCC charged five former governors with corruption in 2025, arrested former NNPC officials over alleged fraud, and dismissed 27 of its officers for misconduct.
He also said he was unaware of Nigeria’s position in global corruption rankings or the Transparency International corruption index.
When asked whether he knew that President Tinubu had once criticised former President Jonathan as corrupt and shameless in 2011, the witness said he was not aware.
He also said he was unaware of claims that Tinubu described Jonathan as a drunkard or referred to Obasanjo as expired meat.
The witness said he would be surprised if documents showing such statements were presented.
Responding to further questions, Nosike confirmed he had heard of Femi Fani‑Kayode, now an ambassador-designate, but could not recall that Fani-Kayode had been a vocal critic of the President before his nomination.
He also said he had no knowledge of claims that Fani-Kayode made social media posts alleging that Tinubu had information about the death of Funso Williams, who was murdered in Lagos.
The witness said he was not aware that the DSS screened Fani-Kayode for an ambassadorial position.
Nosike confirmed he knew Reno Omokri, who is also an ambassador-designate, but denied knowledge of Omokri’s alleged social media posts accusing the President of involvement in Williams’ murder or allegations of drug trafficking.
He also said he was unaware that Omokri once staged a protest against Tinubu in London.
After about one hour and 40 minutes of cross-examination, Justice Umar asked the defence counsel when he intended to conclude questioning the witness.
Abubakar requested one more day, saying he still had important questions and documents to present.
In response, Kehinde noted that the defence had earlier requested only one hour but had spent significantly longer.
Justice Umar observed that it was the second day of cross-examination and that the defence had already exceeded its earlier time request.
Nevertheless, the judge granted the application.
“In the spirit of fairness, I will adjourn for the last time for cross-examination,” he said, before adjourning the matter until March 5 for continuation of the hearing.
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2026-03-05
