Alleged cyberbullying: Court declines Sowore’s application for adjournment

A Federal High Court in Abuja has denied an application by an activist, Omoyele Sowore, to adjourn his trial on charges of cyberstalking President Bola Tinubu brought against him by the federal government until after the court’s upcoming vacation. 

Justice Mohammed Umar, in a ruling on Thursday, rejected the request made by Sowore’s lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, and ordered the defendant, who is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS), to enter his defence beginning from June 5.

The judge ordered that further hearings in the case shall be conducted day-to-day from the next adjourned date.

The court had, in a ruling delivered on May 8, dismissed a no-case submission made by Sowore, upheld the charges preferred against him for allegedly calling President Tinubu a “criminal” on his Twitter handle and ordered him to enter his defence in the charges.

Sowore had filed the no-case submission praying the court to discharge and acquit him from the two-count charge.

In the ruling, Justice Umar held that the DSS had successfully linked Sowore with the alleged offences, and a prima facie case was established against him to warrant his defence in the allegations against him. 

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Shortly after the ruling, Sowore openly accused the judge of bias, adding that he would not get justice in the court and subsequently asked the judge to keep his hands off his trial to allow another judge to conduct the trial. 

He alleged that the judge was playing along with the federal government to convict him at all costs to prevent him from contesting the 2027 general election. 

Sowore’s position was echoed by his lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, who accused the judge of favouring the federal government in the conduct of the trial. 

Abubakar asked the judge to return the case file to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment to another judge. 

The DSS lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, who had earlier asked the judge not to grant an audience to Sowore but his counsel on record, prayed that the recusal application be discountenanced. 

In a brief ruling, Justice Umar ordered Sowore to file a formal application for recusal and state his grievances.

In the amended charge filed on December 5, 2025, Sowore, the presidential candidate of the Action Alliance Congress (AAC), was re-arraigned by DSS on two counts of defamation of Tinubu as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

Count one of the charge reads, “That you, Omoyele Sowore, adult, male, on or about the 25th day of August 2025 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did knowingly or intentionally send a message by means of a computer system or network, to wit: your official “X” (formerly Twitter) handle page, @YeleSowore, wherein you posted the following message/tweet: ‘This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is no more corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly, which message you knew to be fake and posted for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in Nigeria, posing a threat to life, or causing such message to be sent and thereby committed the offence of Cyberstalking contrary to Section 24(1) (b) and 24(2) (a), (6), and (c) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention Amendment) Act, 2024 and punishable under the same section. 

Count two reads, “That you, Omoyele Sowore, adult, male, on or about the 25th day of August, 2025, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did knowingly or intentionally send a message by means of a computer system or network, to wit: your official Facebook handle page. @YeleSowore, wherein you posted the following message/post: “This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is no more corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly with which message you knew to be false and posted for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in Nigeria, posing a threat to life or causing such a message to be sent and thereby committing the offence of cyberstalking contrary to Section 241(b) and 24(2) (a), (b), and (c) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, (Amendment) Act 2024 and punishable under the same section. 

Sowore had pleaded not guilty to the two-count charges when read to him, prompting the DSS to call its witnesses and also tender exhibits to establish the cyberbullying charges.