Sowore Faces Arrest as Abuja Court Revokes Bail in Tinubu-Related Cyberbullying Case

The Federal High Court in Abuja has revoked the bail granted to activist and Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore and ordered his arrest after he failed to appear for proceedings in his ongoing cyberbullying trial.

Justice Mohammed Umar issued the order on Tuesday following an oral application by counsel to the Department of State Services (DSS), Akinkolu Kehinde (SAN) who argued that the defendant had no valid justification for his absence.

The court subsequently issued a bench warrant for Sowore’s arrest.

Sowore is facing charges linked to social media posts in which he allegedly referred to President Bola Tinubu as “a criminal.” The prosecution has already closed its case after presenting its sole witness, leaving the defendant to open his defence.

However, proceedings have been repeatedly delayed due to Sowore’s challenge to the trial and allegations of bias against the presiding judge.

Earlier in May, Justice Umar dismissed a no-case submission filed by Sowore, ruling that the prosecution had established a prima facie case requiring him to enter a defence.

The activist later resisted opening his defence, insisting that the judge should recuse himself from the matter. Through his lawyer, Marshal Abubakar, he informed the court that a petition had been sent to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court seeking the reassignment of the case.

On June 5, Sowore again maintained that Justice Umar should withdraw from the trial, telling the court that members of his legal team were unwilling to continue appearing before the judge. He subsequently indicated that he might represent himself.

The court adjourned the matter to June 15 for a ruling on the recusal request.

On June 16, Sowore appeared at the court complex prepared to continue the matter. However, proceedings did not hold after court officials announced that the judge would not sit due to the deployment of personnel to support the ongoing mass terrorism trials taking place across several courtrooms in the Federal High Court complex.

Following the adjournment, Sowore informed court officials that he would be unavailable the next day because he intended to travel to Lagos to assemble a legal team.

Documents later made public by the activist showed that he also wrote to the Deputy Chief Registrar requesting a new hearing date and explaining that he had remained at the court from 8:20 a.m until nearly noon before learning that proceedings would not hold.

The letter proposed alternative dates in July and September and requested that the correspondence be brought to the attention of the trial judge.

Despite the request, the matter proceeded on Tuesday. Neither Sowore nor any legal representative appeared in court.

After hearing arguments from the prosecution, Justice Umar granted the request to revoke the defendant’s bail and ordered his arrest. The case was subsequently adjourned pending further proceedings.