The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday rejected documents sought to be tendered by the defence in the ongoing cyberbullying trial of activist and publisher Omoyele Sowore.
The court rejected Sowore’s team’s bid to tender statements allegedly made by President 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 was unaware of their contents.
Sowore is standing trial on two amended counts of cybercrime for describing President Tinubu as a “criminal” in a social media post on August 25, 2025. The post followed the President’s claim during a visit to Brazil that corruption in Nigeria had ended under his administration.
During cross-examination, defence counsel Marshal Abubakar attempted to tender online publications highlighting alleged corruption within public institutions, including reports of dismissals and prosecutions carried out by the Department of State Services and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Abubakar stated that in 2025, the DSS had 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 in connection with a N7.2bn fraud.
Abubakar argued that the documents were relevant to the defence because they showed that corruption was ongoing in Nigeria, and that even anti-graft agencies were still battling corrupt practices.
The defence also sought to tender documents allegedly containing statements by President Tinubu in 2011, when he reportedly described former President Jonathan as a “drunkard and sinking fisherman” and his administration as “corrupt and shameless,” and referred to former President Obasanjo as “expired meat.” Marshal Abubakar argued that these statements were relevant to the defence, highlighting inconsistencies in Tinubu’s own past criticism of corruption.
Prosecution counsel Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN) objected to both sets of documents, contending they were irrelevant to the cyberstalking charges against Sowore and failed to comply with Section 84 of the Evidence Act. Kehinde stressed that the witness had not produced the documents and had no knowledge of their contents, urging the court to reject them.
Justice Umar upheld the prosecution’s objections, ruling that the documents—including those containing Tinubu’s alleged anti-Jonathan and anti-Obasanjo comments—could not be tendered.
The DSS witness further testified that he was unaware of Nigeria’s ranking on global corruption indices and denied knowledge of social media posts by political figures, including 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 close of proceedings, 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.
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