Proceedings in the alleged defamation case against Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, were stalled on Thursday at the Federal High Court in Abuja following the absence of the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Umar.
The matter, which was scheduled for hearing, could not proceed as the judge was said to be attending another official engagement.
Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), Counsel to the prosecution and defence lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, were present in court alongside Sowore and a prosecution witness when it was announced that the judge would not be sitting.
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Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) over alleged defamatory remarks against President Bola Tinubu.
The charge stems from a post on Sowore’s social media accounts on X and Facebook in which he allegedly referred to the president as “a criminal.”
At the previous sitting on February 4, Justice Umar declined to admit two sets of documents sought to be tendered by the defence during the cross-examination of the first prosecution witness, Cyril Nosike, an operative of the DSS.
The documents included printouts of media reports on disciplinary actions within security and anti-corruption agencies, including the dismissal of 115 DSS officials for misconduct, the arraignment of five former governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the dismissal of 27 EFCC officials over fraud and misconduct, and the arrest of some former Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) staff over an alleged N7.2 billion fraud.
In his ruling, the judge agreed with the prosecution that the appropriate stage to tender such documents would be during the defence phase of the trial.
Justice Umar noted that the prosecution witness had indicated he was unaware of the publications contained in the documents, making it inappropriate to introduce them through his testimony.
The court also rejected another set of publications the defence claimed showed instances in which Tinubu allegedly made derogatory remarks about former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo. The judge marked the documents as rejected for the same reasons given in the earlier ruling.
Justice Umar also raised concerns over a report by the prosecution that previous proceedings in the case were live-streamed online. The prosecution urged the court to order an investigation to identify the individual responsible.
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The defence, however, denied involvement, with Abubakar suggesting that the livestream could have been carried out by individuals outside the defence team.
The judge warned that such actions could amount to contempt of court, while the defence urged the court to caution against a recurrence rather than order a formal investigation.
