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In two judgments, the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday rejected two sets of documents submitted by politician and online publisher Omoyele Sowore in his ongoing trial on charges of cyberstalking.
Sowore has been charged by the Department of State Services (DSS) for allegedly making false claims in posts on his ‘X’ and Facebook accounts, calling the current Bola Tinubu a criminal.
In his first judgment on Wednesday, Justice Mohamed Umar rejected an oral application by Sowore lawyer Marshall Abubakar to admit into evidence a set of documents consisting of printed copies of the publication.
The publications include media reports on the sacking of 115 officials for fraud by the DSS, the corruption charges against five former governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the sacking of 27 officials of the EFCC for fraud and misconduct, and the arrest of several former officials of the NNPCL for fraud of N7.2 billion by the EFCC.
In his judgment, Justice Umar agreed with prosecuting attorney Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN) that the best opportunity for a defendant to present documents is during his defense.
The judge held that such a document could not be introduced through the witness as the first prosecution witness (PW1) during the cross-examination of Mr. Abubakar stated that he had no knowledge of the publications contained in the document.
“You can’t introduce documents through witnesses who say they didn’t know anything.
This document has been marked as rejected,” Justice Umar said.
In the second ruling, the judge rejected another set of documents that Abubakar published in 2011 showing that President Bola Tinubu referred to then-President Goodluck Jonathan as a hard drinker and a sinking fisherman and called former President Olusegun Obasanjo “expired meat.”
The judge marked these documents as rejected for the same reasons he rejected the first set of documents.
Justice Umar frowned at the prosecution lawyer’s report that members of the defense team had been live-streaming earlier proceedings in the case, and asked the court to order an investigation to identify those behind it.
Abubakar denied any involvement by members of his defense team and said the crime could have been committed by DSS or members of the presidential administration, but the judge said such actions amounted to contempt of court.
Mr. Abubakar asked the court to deny the prosecuting attorney’s request for a court order to investigate the case, merely warning against a repeat of such incidents.
Justice Umar said it would be easy to identify those behind the incident and security agencies could be directed to investigate as the matter was serious.
The judge promised to investigate the leaked video.
During cross-examination of PW2, Mr. Cyril Nosike, a DSS officer, stated that at the time of Mr. Sowore’s indicted post, President Tinubu’s official X (Twitter) handle was @officialABAT.
The witness rejected Abubakar’s suggestion that the president’s official X-handle is @PBAT.
Nosike said the court did not pass any judgment to show that corruption had ended in Nigeria.
On whether there is corruption in Nigeria, the witness said he could not comment on such matters as he is not a politician, adding that the defense lawyer was simply seeking an opinion, saying: “I am not here to give an opinion, I am here to state the facts.”
He denounced Abubakar’s claim that DSS fired 115 staff members for corruption, explaining that they were fired after an internal investigation and not because of corruption as claimed by the defense.
The witness denied knowing that the EFCC had indicted five former governors for corruption in 2025. The EFCC has arrested a former official of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPCL) for allegedly defrauding the company to the tune of N7.2 billion, and the EFCC has announced the dismissal of 27 executives for fraud and misconduct.
Regarding whether he was aware of global corruption rankings as a security official, the witness said he was not aware of global corruption rankings. He also said he was not aware of Transparency International’s corruption index.
The witness also said he was not aware that Nigeria ranks 140th out of 180 countries on the global corruption index.
The witness said he did not know whether he was aware that the current president was the main opposition force in the country in 2011.
The witness said he did not know whether he was aware that in 2011 the current president had called then President Goodluck Jonathan corrupt and shameless.
Nosike also said he was not aware that the current president called Jonathan a drunkard and a sinking fisherman.
When asked whether he knew former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the witness answered in the affirmative. But he said:
He does not know that President Tinubu called former President Obasanjo expired meat.
The witness said he would be surprised if he were shown documents in which Tinubu allegedly made such statements about the two former presidents.
Asked if he had ever heard of the current ambassador-designate, Femi Fani-Kayode, the witness said yes, but added that he could not recall Fani-Kayode ever being a vocal critic of the president before his appointment as ambassador.
Mr. Nosike denied knowing about Mr. Abubakar’s claim that Mr. Fani-Kayode had made a social media post alleging that President Tinubu knew something about the death of Funso Williams, who was a Lagos State gubernatorial candidate.
The witness said he was not aware that DSS had vetted Fani-Kayode as an ambassador nominee. Because it wasn’t part of his schedule.
Mr Nosike said he could not recall Mr Fanso Williams being killed in Lagos while President Tinubu was governor of the state.
He admitted that he was acquainted with Chief Reno Omokri and confirmed that Omokri was an ambassadorial appointee appointed by the government.
The witness said he was not aware of Omokri’s social media posts in which Tinubu claimed to know about the murder of Fanso Williams, adding that he had not come across any video of Omokri saying Tinubu knew about the murder of Fanso Williams.
The witness said he was not aware that Mr. Omokri had staged a protest against President Tinubu in London, alleging that he was involved in drug trafficking and knew about the murder of Fanso Williams.
After spending one hour and 40 minutes cross-examining PW1, Justice Umar asked Abubakar when he intended to conclude the two-day cross-examination of witnesses.
Abubakar asked the court for another day of prayer, claiming he had more important questions and documents to confront the witnesses.
In response, Mr. Kehinde recalled that on the final day, Mr. Abubakar asked for an additional hour to reach his conclusion, but he took an hour and 40 minutes and still claimed that he had not finished briefing the witnesses.
Kehinde said he would let the judge decide whether to grant the defence’s request for an adjournment.
In his judgment, Justice Umar noted that this was the second day that the defense was cross-examining PW1.
The judge added that Abubakar asked for an hour on their last date, but it lasted an hour and 40 minutes, and he asked again for an additional date.
