A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has warned that it may revoke the bail granted to activist, politician and online publisher Omoyele Sowore if he fails to appear at the next hearing of his ongoing cybercrime trial.
The warning was issued on Thursday by Justice Mohammed Umar after Sowore and his legal team failed to appear in court for the scheduled proceedings.
Sowore is currently being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) over allegations that he made defamatory and false claims against Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, by describing him as a criminal in posts published on his social media accounts, including X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
During Thursday’s proceedings, neither Sowore nor any member of his defence team, reportedly numbering about 30 lawyers was present in court. The prosecuting counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), told the court that the defence was expected to conclude its cross-examination of the first prosecution witness.
Kehinde informed the court that records from the registry confirmed that a hearing notice had been duly served on the defendant through his lawyers. He argued that there was no justification for the absence of both Sowore and his legal team.
Relying on provisions of Sections 352(1) and (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, the prosecution urged the court to revoke the defendant’s bail and issue a bench warrant for his arrest to compel his appearance.
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In his ruling, Justice Umar acknowledged that the hearing notice had been properly served on the defendant through his lawyers. However, he noted that Sowore had consistently attended earlier court sessions since the trial began late last year.
The judge therefore decided to give the defendant the benefit of the doubt, describing the absence as the first since the case commenced. Nonetheless, he warned that the court would not hesitate to revoke Sowore’s bail and issue a warrant for his arrest if he fails to attend the next hearing.
Justice Umar subsequently adjourned the matter until March 16 for continuation of trial and ordered that a fresh hearing notice be served on the defence team.
