The State Security Service (SSS) on Tuesday arraigned Omoyele Sowore, human rights activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, at the Federal High Court in Abuja for allegedly cyberbullying President Bola Tinubu by calling him a criminal.
Mr Sowore was arraigned alongside the parent companies of Facebook and X over his posts on the social media platforms in August calling Mr Tinubu a criminal.
They pleaded not guilty to the five counts during the arraignment before trial judge Mohammed Umar, who subsequently granted bail to Mr Sowore on self-recognition.
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Earlier when the matter was called, his lawyer, Marshal Abubakar, challenged the competence of the charges.
Mr Abubakar argued that a preliminary objection was served on prosecution lawyer Akinlolu Kehinde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) a few minutes before commencement of the proceedings.
He argued that his client would not enter a plea to incompetent charges.
Responding, Mr Kehinde vehemently objected to Mr Abubakar ‘s submission.
The senior lawyer, who argued that the application was not ripe to be taken, said the business of the day was for Mr Sowore’s arraignment.
He said the preliminary objections filed was part of the mischief of Mr Sowore’s lawyer to delay proceedings in the matter.
He reminded the court that so many adjournments had been granted at the instance of Mr Sowore.
Mr Kehinde, who cited Section 396(3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, to back his argument, said no application ought to be heard until Mr Sowore’s arraignment.
Lawyers who appeared for X Incorp and Meta Incorp did not oppose the application for the defendants to take their plea.
In a short ruling, trial judge Umar agreed with the argument of the SSS’ lawyer and ordered that the arraignment should proceed.
After the arraignment on Tuesday, Mr Marshal applied for Mr Sowore’s bail, relying on Section 162 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
He said the offences are bailable and noted that his client, a respected presidential candidate, does not have the history of jumping bail.
The prosecution opposed the bail application, saying Mr Sowore has a history of committing further offences when granted bail. He noted that if the court inclined to granting him bail, it should do so in stringent conditions. The defence lawyer dismissed the claim that Mr Sowore would commit further offences if granted bail as untrue.
SSS filed five counts of cybercrimes and defamation in October against Mr Sowore, Facebook and X.
The government instituted the charges after the futile efforts of the country’s secret police agency, the SSS to compel the trio to delete the posts.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the prosecution accused Mr Sowore of making a false claim against the person of President Tinubu by referring to him as “a criminal” on his X and Facebook accounts.
The case is one of several that have been filed against Mr Sowore just this year following confrontations with the police and the government, including after protests against bad governance, corruption and unfavourable actions of the government.
