Sowore Cybercrime Trial Adjourned as Court Rejects Defence Documents

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday rejected documents the defence sought to tender in the ongoing cyberbullying trial of activist and publisher Omoyele Sowore.

The court declined the defence team’s attempt to tender statements allegedly made by Bola Tinubu against former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo.

Justice Mohammed Umar ruled that the documents could not be properly admitted through the prosecution’s first witness, who had testified that he had no knowledge of their contents.

Sowore is standing trial on two amended counts of cybercrime over a social media post made on August 25, 2025, in which he described President Tinubu as a criminal. The post followed Tinubu’s statement during a visit to Brazil that corruption in Nigeria had ended under his administration.

During cross examination, defence counsel Marshal Abubakar sought to tender online publications detailing alleged corruption within public institutions. These included reports of dismissals and prosecutions by the Department of State Services and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Abubakar told the court that in 2025 the DSS dismissed 115 officers for corruption, while the EFCC dismissed 27 staff for fraud and misconduct, prosecuted five governors, and arrested officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation over an alleged N7.2 billion fraud. He argued that the documents were relevant to the defence because they showed that corruption was still prevalent in Nigeria and that even anti graft agencies continued to battle internal misconduct.

The defence also attempted to tender documents said to contain statements made by Tinubu in 2011, in which he allegedly described former President Jonathan as a drunkard and sinking fisherman, labelled his administration corrupt and shameless, and referred to former President Obasanjo as expired meat. Abubakar argued that these statements were relevant because they highlighted inconsistencies in Tinubu’s past criticisms of corruption.

Prosecution counsel Akinlolu Kehinde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, objected to the documents, arguing that they were irrelevant to the cyberstalking charges against Sowore and did not meet the requirements of Section 84 of the Evidence Act. He stressed that the witness did not produce the documents and had no personal knowledge of their contents.

Justice Umar upheld the objections and ruled that the documents, including those relating to Tinubu’s alleged comments about Jonathan and Obasanjo, could not be admitted in evidence.

The DSS witness further told the court that he was unaware of Nigeria’s position on global corruption indices and denied knowledge of social media posts by political figures such as Femi Fani Kayode and Reno Omokri accusing President Tinubu of corruption, drug trafficking, and involvement in the death of former Lagos governorship candidate Funsho Williams.

At the end of the session, Abubakar applied for an adjournment to continue cross examining the witness. Justice Umar adjourned the case until March 5, 2026, for the continuation of cross examination.