By Taiye Agbaje

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, rejected two sets of documents tendered by Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, in his ongoing trial over alleged defamatory remarks against President Bola Tinubu.

Justice Mohammed Umar, in a ruling, declined an oral application by Sowore’s lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, seeking an order to admit a set of documents comprising printouts of publications in evidence.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) for allegedly making false claims against President Tinubu by referring to him as “a criminal” in posts made on his X and Facebook accounts.

The publications include media reports on the DSS’ dismissal of 115 officials for misconduct; the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charging five former governors with corruption; the EFCC’s dismissal of 27 officials over fraud and misconduct; and the EFCC’s arrest of some former staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) over an alleged N7.2 billion fraud.

In his ruling, Justice Umar agreed with the DSS lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, that the appropriate time for the defendant to tender the documents would be during the conduct of his defence.

The judge held that since the first prosecution witness (PW-1), who was being cross-examined by Abubakar, stated that he knew nothing about the publications contained in the documents, they could not be tendered through him.

“You cannot tender a document through a witness who has said he knows nothing about it.

“The document is hereby marked as rejected,” Justice Umar said.

In a second ruling, the judge also rejected another set of documents comprising printouts of publications which Abubakar claimed showed that President Tinubu had allegedly referred to former President Goodluck Jonathan as “a drunkard and a sinking fisherman”, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo as “an expired meat”

Justice Umar marked the documents as rejected for the same reasons given in rejecting the first set.

The judge, however, frowned at a report by the prosecuting lawyer that a member of the defence team had live-streamed previous proceedings and urged the court to order an investigation to identify the person responsible.

Although Abubakar denied that any member of the defence team was involved, suggesting that it could have been done by the DSS or individuals in the Presidency, the judge said such conduct amounted to contempt of court.

Abubakar urged the court to merely caution against a repeat of the incident and to decline the request for an investigation.

Justice Umar said it would be easy to identify the person responsible and that he could direct security agencies to investigate, as the matter was serious.

Although the judge promised to address the issue later in the day, he remained silent on it while adjourning the case.

While being cross-examined, the second prosecution witness (PW-2), Cyril Nosike, a DSS official, said that at the time Sowore made the post for which he is being prosecuted, the President’s official X (formerly Twitter) handle was @officialABAT.

The witness rejected Abubakar’s suggestion that the official handle was @PBAT.

Nosike said he did not tender any court judgment to show that corruption had ended in Nigeria.

Asked whether there was corruption in Nigeria, the witness said he was not a politician and could not comment on the issue.

“I am not here to give an opinion, but to state facts,” he said.

He faulted Abubakar’s claim that the DSS dismissed 115 officials for corruption, explaining that they were dismissed after internal investigations and not specifically for corruption.

The witness denied knowing that in 2025 the EFCC charged five former governors to court for corruption, arrested former NNPCL staff over an alleged N7.2 billion fraud, or dismissed 27 of its officers for fraud and misconduct.

On whether he was aware of global corruption rankings, Nosike said he was not, adding that he was also unaware of the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index.

He further said he was not aware that Nigeria was ranked 140th out of 180 countries in the index.

On whether he knew that the current President was a major opposition figure in 2011, the witness said he did not.

He also said he was unaware that President Tinubu had allegedly referred to then President Jonathan as corrupt, shameless, a drunkard or a sinking fisherman.

Although he confirmed knowing former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he said he was unaware that Tinubu had referred to him as “an expired meat”.

Nosike said he would be surprised if shown documents in which Tinubu allegedly made such remarks.

When asked about Femi Fani-Kayode, now an ambassador-designate, the witness confirmed knowing him but said he could not recall that Fani-Kayode was a vocal critic of the President before his nomination.

Nosike denied knowledge of claims that Fani-Kayode made social media posts alleging that President Tinubu had knowledge of the death of Funso Williams, a former governorship candidate in Lagos State.

He also said he was not aware that the DSS screened Fani-Kayode as an ambassador-designate, as it did not form part of his schedule.

The witness said he could not recall that Funso Williams was murdered in Lagos while Tinubu was governor of the state.

He admitted knowing Reno Omokri and confirmed that Omokri is also an ambassador-designate.

Nosike said he was not aware of Omokri’s social media posts alleging that Tinubu knew about Williams’ murder, nor of any videos making such claims.

He also said he was unaware that Omokri staged a protest against President Tinubu in London, alleging drug trafficking and complicity in Williams’ murder.

After one hour and 40 minutes of cross-examination of PW-1, Justice Umar asked Abubakar when he intended to conclude, noting that the witness had been cross-examined over two days.

Abubakar requested one more day, saying he still had important questions and documents to put to the witness.

In response, Kehinde recalled that Abubakar had previously asked for an additional hour but had exceeded it by 40 minutes and was still not done.

He said he would leave it to the court to decide whether to grant the adjournment.

In his ruling, Justice Umar observed that the defence had spent the entire second day cross-examining PW-1.

He noted that although Abubakar had earlier requested just one hour, he had exceeded the time and still sought another adjournment.

However, “in the spirit of fairness”, the judge granted the request, adjourning the matter until March 5 for the final cross-examination of PW-1. (NAN)

Source; PM News