A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday rejected two sets of documents tendered by politician and online publisher, Omoyele Sowore, in his ongoing cyberstalking trial and ordered a probe into the leakage of a court session video.
Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) over alleged false claims against President Bola Tinubu, whom he reportedly described as a criminal in posts made on his X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook accounts.
In two separate rulings, Justice Mohammed Umar declined to admit the documents presented by Sowore’s counsel, Marshall Abubakar, during the cross-examination of a prosecution witness.
The first set of documents comprised media reports on alleged misconduct within security and anti-corruption agencies, including reports of the DSS dismissing 115 officials, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecuting five former governors, sacking 27 officials, and arresting ex-staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) over an alleged N7.2 billion fraud.
Justice Umar agreed with prosecuting counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), that the documents could not be tendered through the witness, who had stated under cross-examination that he had no knowledge of the publications.
“You cannot tender a document through a witness who said he does not know anything about it,” the judge ruled, marking the documents as rejected and noting that Sowore could only tender them during his defence.
The court similarly rejected a second set of documents which the defence claimed showed that Tinubu, in 2011, referred to then President Goodluck Jonathan as a drunkard and a “sinking fisherman,” and described former President Olusegun Obasanjo as “expired meat.”
Justice Umar rejected the documents on the same grounds, holding that the prosecution witness had no knowledge of the alleged statements.
The judge also expressed concern over reports that a member of the defence team had live-streamed earlier court proceedings, describing the act as contempt of court. While Abubakar denied the allegation and suggested the leak could have come from security operatives or individuals linked to the Presidency, Justice Umar said the matter was serious and ordered an investigation to identify those responsible.
“It is easy to identify the person behind it,” the judge said, adding that he could direct security agencies to probe the incident.
During cross-examination, a DSS official, Cyril Nosike, testified that President Tinubu’s official X handle at the time of the alleged post was @officialABAT, not @PBAT as suggested by the defence.
Nosike said he was not aware of claims relating to Nigeria’s global corruption ranking, the Transparency International index, or alleged corruption cases cited by the defence. He maintained that he was in court to state facts, not opinions, and denied knowledge of alleged past statements by Tinubu against former presidents Jonathan and Obasanjo.
He also said he was unaware of social media allegations made by figures such as Femi Fani-Kayode and Reno Omokri linking Tinubu to the murder of former Lagos governorship candidate Funso Williams.
After nearly two hours of cross-examination on Wednesday — following a previous day of questioning — Justice Umar questioned the defence’s repeated requests for more time. Although Abubakar sought an additional day to conclude, the judge noted that the defence had exceeded earlier time limits granted by the court.
The case was adjourned for further proceedings.
