The planned arraignment of Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, on charges of defaming President Bola Tinubu stalled on Tuesday at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Trial judge Muhammad Umar postponed the case to October after it emerged that Mr Sowore had not been served with the charges.
The charges stemmed from Mr Sowore’s posts on X and Facebook in August calling Mr Tinubu a criminal.
Earlier this month, the Nigerian government filed five counts of cybercrimes and defamation jointly against Mr Sowore, Facebook and X. The government instituted the charges after the futile efforts of the country’s secret police agency, the State Security Service (SSS), to compel the trio to delete the posts.
Mr Sowore, a human rights activist and former presidential candidate, was charged alongside the parent companies of Facebook and X.
But only Mr Sowore appeared in the dock on Tuesday.
While Meta – the Facebook owner (third defendant) – was represented in court by its lawyers, X Corporation – the owner of X (second defendant) – did not send any representive or lawyer to court.
With the prosecution poised to proceed with the arraignment, Mr Sowore’s lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, told the judge that the charges had not been served on his client as required by law.
He said the arraignment could not proceed on that ground.
But the prosecution lawyer, Mohammed Abubakar, who is the Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, maintained that the charges had been served on Mr Sowore.
The dispute prompted the judge to call for the court’s records, after which he confirmed that while Facebook and X had been served, Mr Sowore had not been personally served.
Therefore, on the prosecution’s request, the court permitted the service of the charges on Mr Sowore in court.
After serving Mr Sowore with the charges, Mr Abubakar, the prosecution lawyer, requested to proceed with the arraignment of the defendants.
But Mr Sowore’s lawyer argued that under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), arraignment could only take place at least three days after service.
The prosecution insisted it could proceed with the arraignment on the grounds that Mr Sowore was present in court and aware of the proceedings.
Again, Mr Sowore’s lawyer countered that suggestion, maintaining that the ACJA does not allow bypassing the three-day window without the defendant’s consent.
The prosecution then asked the judge for a short adjournment.
The judge postponed the arraignment to 27 October.
Background
The charges arose from Mr Sowore’s social media posts on 25 August, calling President Tinubu “a criminal, who had said there is no more corruption in Nigeria under his regime.” The posts were in reaction to Mr Tinubu’s remarks during an official visit to Brazil at the time.
Following the post, the SSS wrote to Facebook and X, demanding that the pos be deleted.
They also asked Mr Sowore to remove it. But Mr Sowore publicly announced his defiance. Through his lawyer, he wrote to the companies, stating that deleting the post would infringe his rights.
Both X and Facebook have yet to make their stance on SSS’ request public.
The Nigerian government subsequently charged Mr Sowore along with X and Facebook, with cybercrime offences and criminal defamation.
However, a review by PREMIUM TIMES showed that all the charges were directed at Mr Sowore and levelled no allegations against the tech giants.
The five counts against Sowore on behalf of the government were filed through Mohammed Abubakar, Director of Public Prosecutions.
The charges accused Mr Sowore of publishing posts on 25 and 26 August, which the prosecution said were false and intended to cause public fear, disturb public order, and defame President Tinubu.
The posts were said to violate Section 24(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024, and Sections 375 and 59 of the Criminal Code Act.
