Court Postpones Sowore’s Trial For Allegedly Making False Claim Against Tinubu
A Federal High Court in Abuja has postponed the planned arraignment of a politician and online publisher, Omoyele Sowore, for making false claims against Bola Tinubu to October 27.
Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters and serial presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), was to be arraigned on Tuesday on a five-count charge brought against him and two others by the Department of State Services (DSS).
The two other defendants listed in the charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, are X Incorp (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) Incorp.
At the mention of the case on Tuesday, lawyer to the prosecution, Mohammed Abubakar, noted that the matter was scheduled for arraignment and applied that the defendants’ plea be taken.
Lawyer to Sowore, Marshall Abubakar objected, noting that one of the defendants – X Incorp – was not represented by either a lawyer or an official.
Abubakar claimed that his client had not yet been served with the charge. He also noted that X was not represented.
The defence lawyer contended that, in a criminal case, it is mandatory that all the defendants are present in court for a proper arraignment to take place.
At that point, the judge, Justice Mohammed Umar, looked through the case file and confirmed that X and Meta were served with the charge electronically, through their email addresses.
On noting that Sowore was yet to be served personally (as required), the prosecuting lawyer sought the court’s permission to serve Sowore (who was in court) during the proceedings, a request the judge granted.
READ ALSO: BREAKING: ‘’Heavens Won’t Fall’’ Sowore Sues DSS, Meta, X
Sowore’s lawyer, however, prayed for an adjournment to allow his client, who was just served the charge, adequate time and opportunity to prepare for his defense as provided under Section 282(6) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.
The charge was filed on September 16, a few days after an earlier request by the DSS on Facebook and X, the platforms allegedly deployed by Sowore for his said false claim, to pull the misleading message down.
In the charge, Sowore, the presidential candidate of the AAC in 2019, is accused of contravening the provisions of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024, and the Criminal Code Act.
