Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja on Monday, closed the case of the Department of State Services (DSS) prosecution against former presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Omoyele Sowore, who is standing trial for cyberbullying and the defamation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The trial court judge, Mohammed Umar, closed the prosecution’s case after the prosecutor, represented by Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, informed the court that he had no more witnesses. The prosecution, which opened its case in January, had called only one witness, Cyril Nosike, a staff member of the DSS.
The defence counsel, Abubakar Marshall, hinted to the court that the defence team would file a “no case submission” and needed time to study the evidence adduced before the court in their attempt to justify what they called a frivolous charge.
Besides, Marshall informed the court that the defendant Omoyele has indicated his interest in running as AAC’s presidential candidate for the 2027 general election and that the Electoral Commission’s timetable demands that political parties must hold their primaries. He urged the court to allow time to enable him to contextualise the primary, adding that, otherwise, he would be blocked.
In his ruling, Justice Umar adjourned the matter to April 13, 2026, for Sowore to open his defence.
Recall that Sowore was re-arraigned by the DSS on a two-count amended charge filed on December 5, 2025. The charges, according to the DSS, border on the defamation of Tinubu as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The new charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025 and signed by Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, has only Sowore as the sole defendant.
In the initial charge, Sowore, X Inc. (formerly Twitter) and Meta Platforms (Facebook) were named in the charge as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants, respectively; the amended charge dropped the names of the 2nd and 3rd defendants.
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