• DSS declines to seek suspension of trial
A Federal High Court in Abuja has asked the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, to continue his defence on October 2 in the alleged cyber-bullying case the Department of State Services (DSS) filed against him.
There were social media reports last month that the DSS would, upon the resumption of the courts from its annual long vacation, seek an extended adjournment to enable Sowore to concentrate on his presidential campaign.
Sowore is being prosecuted for his August 2025 posts on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook in which he described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as “this criminal”. He also accused the President of lying about the corruption level in the country.
At the conclusion of the prosecution’s case, Sowore made a no-case submission, which the court rejected and ordered him to enter his defence.
He also lost in his bid to have the trial judge recuse himself from the case after the court’s Chief Judge rejected his allegation of bias.
During yesterday’s hearing, the prosecuting lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), told the court that the case was fixed for September 28 for Sowore to continue his defence.
But the defence lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN), said the defendant was expecting a subpoenaed witness from the DSS, but that the defence might not be able to proceed without the witness.
Olumide-Fusika recalled that on the last hearing date, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), reached an understanding with the defence that another officer of the DSS would be sent to represent the agency’s Director General, who was originally subpoenaed.
The defence lawyer averred that since nobody came from the DSS to represent its DG, the defence would have to apply for an adjournment.
He said since the witness was subpoenaed and was not in court, the defence could apply for him to be arrested and produced in court.
Olumide-Fusika tendered some newspaper publications in which the DSS reportedly promised to instruct its lawyer to seek the suspension of proceedings in the case until after the next general election.
The defence lawyer said he expected that the prosecution would, at the resumption of yesterday’s proceedings, apply for an extended adjournment as was reported in the media.
When the judge, Justice Mohammed Umar, asked why no DSS official was in court in view of the understanding with the AGF, Kehinde said it was not his responsibility to produce a witness for the defence.
The prosecution lawyer argued that it was the defence’s responsibility to ensure that its witness was in court.
He also faulted Olumide-Fusika’s decision to rely on social media publications in the conduct of his case. Kehinde denied knowledge of such publications and urged the court to discountenance them.
The prosecution lawyer urged the court to order the defendant to proceed with his defence.
Ruling, Justice Umar held that since the subpoenaed witness was not available, he would give the defence another time to produce its witness.
He adjourned till October 2 for the continuation of the defence.
