Political activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore in court
Department of State Services (DSS) on Tuesday arraigned activist and Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, before the Federal High Court in Abuja on allegations of cyberbullying President Bola Tinubu.
Sowore appeared before Justice Mohammed Umar, where he firmly entered a plea of not guilty.
Drama unfolded early in the proceedings when Sowore’s lawyer, Marshal Abubakar, rose to challenge the competence of the charge. Abubakar told the court that a preliminary objection had already been served on the prosecution’s lead counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN—albeit only minutes before the hearing commenced.
He insisted that his client could not be expected to take a plea “on a charge that was incompetent,” urging the court to address the objection first.
Kehinde pushed back sharply. He argued that the defence was attempting to stall the case, reminding the court that several adjournments had already been granted at Sowore’s instance. The prosecution maintained that the objections were not ripe for hearing and cited Section 396(3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, which requires that arraignment take precedence.
While lawyers representing X Inc. (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) Inc.—listed as the 2nd and 3rd defendants—did not oppose moving forward with the plea, Justice Umar sided with the DSS and ordered that the arraignment proceed.
According to the charge sheet, numbered FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, the DSS alleges that Sowore used his X and Facebook accounts to make a false statement against President Tinubu, referring to him as “a criminal.” Sowore, a former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), is listed as the 1st defendant, while the two social media giants were joined to the suit as co-defendants.
The case is expected to continue with further hearings as the court takes up the substantive arguments from both sides.
