Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected two sets of documents tendered by politician and online publisher Omoyele Sowore in his ongoing cyberstalking trial.
Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) over allegations that he falsely described President Bola Tinubu as a criminal in posts on his X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook accounts.
In the first ruling, Justice Umar declined an oral application by Sowore’s counsel, Marshall Abubakar, seeking to tender printouts of various media publications through a prosecution witness.
The documents included reports on the DSS’ dismissal of 115 officials for misconduct; the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charging five former governors with corruption; the EFCC’s dismissal of 27 officials for fraud and misconduct; and the EFCC’s arrest of former Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) officials over an alleged ₦7.2 billion fraud.
The judge agreed with the prosecution, led by Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), that the documents could not be admitted at that stage of proceedings. He held that the proper time to tender the materials would be during the defence’s case.
Justice Umar noted that the first prosecution witness, through whom the documents were sought to be tendered, had stated under cross-examination that he had no knowledge of the publications, making them inadmissible through him.
In a second ruling, the court also rejected another set of documents consisting of media reports allegedly showing that President Tinubu, in 2011, referred to then President Goodluck Jonathan as “a drunkard and a sinking fisherman,” and former President Olusegun Obasanjo as “an expired meat.”
The judge marked the documents as rejected for the same reasons given in the earlier ruling.
During the proceedings, Justice Umar expressed concern over a report by the prosecution that a member of the defence team had live-streamed earlier court proceedings and urged the court to order an investigation to identify the person responsible.
While Abubakar denied any involvement by the defence team and suggested the act could have been carried out by the DSS or individuals within the Presidency, the judge described the conduct as contempt of court.
Abubakar urged the court to caution against a recurrence rather than order an investigation, but Justice Umar said identifying the culprit would not be difficult and that he could direct security agencies to probe the matter. Although the judge said he would address the issue later in the day, he did not return to it before adjourning the case.
During cross-examination, the second prosecution witness, Cyril Nosike, a DSS official, testified that at the time Sowore made the posts in question, President Tinubu’s official X handle was @officialABAT, rejecting the defence’s claim that it was @PBAT.
Nosike said he did not tender any court judgment to show that corruption had ended in Nigeria and declined to comment on the country’s corruption situation, stating that he was not a politician and was in court to testify to facts, not opinions.
He disputed the claim that the DSS dismissed 115 officials for corruption, explaining that they were removed following internal investigations and not specifically for corrupt practices.
The witness said he was unaware that, in 2025, the EFCC charged five former governors with corruption, arrested former NNPCL officials over a ₦7.2 billion fraud, or dismissed 27 of its officials for fraud and misconduct.
Nosike also said he was unfamiliar with global corruption rankings, including Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, and did not know that Nigeria was ranked 140th out of 180 countries.
Asked about political developments in 2011, the witness said he did not know that Tinubu was a major opposition figure at the time, nor was he aware of any statements allegedly made by Tinubu describing former presidents Jonathan and Obasanjo in derogatory terms.
He said he knew former President Obasanjo but was unaware of claims that Tinubu referred to him as “an expired meat,” adding that he would be surprised if such documents were produced.
On former minister Femi Fani-Kayode, now an ambassador-designate, Nosike said he knew him but could not recall that he was once a vocal critic of President Tinubu or that he made social media posts alleging Tinubu’s involvement in the death of Funso Williams, a former Lagos governorship candidate.
He also said he was unaware that the DSS screened Fani-Kayode for his ambassadorial nomination or that Funso Williams was murdered while Tinubu was governor of Lagos State.
Nosike confirmed knowing Reno Omokri and acknowledged that he is an ambassador-designate under the current administration, but said he was unaware of alleged social media posts or protests in London linking President Tinubu to drug trafficking or Williams’ murder.
After one hour and 40 minutes of cross-examination, Justice Umar asked defence counsel when he intended to conclude, noting that the witness had already been cross-examined over two court days.
Abubakar requested one additional day to complete cross-examination, while Kehinde reminded the court that the defence had previously sought and exceeded extra time.
In his ruling, Justice Umar observed that although the defence had surpassed its earlier time request, he would grant a final adjournment in the interest of fairness.
The case was adjourned to March 5 for the continuation and conclusion of the cross-examination.
