A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has issued a final warning to the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in the 2023 election, Omoyele Sowore, over repeated delays in his ongoing criminal defamation trial.
At the hearing on Thursday, the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Umar, warned that the court would foreclose the defence if Sowore or his counsel failed to proceed with the case on the next adjourned date.
The judge issued the warning after Sowore’s lead counsel, Mr Olumide Fusika, was again absent from proceedings.
Sowore’s lawyer, Mr Marshall Abubakar, informed the court that Fusika was still outside the country attending to a family matter, and urged the court to grant another adjournment.
Counsel for the Department of State Services, Mr Akinlolu Kehinde, opposed the application, arguing that the defence had consistently delayed the trial.
Kehinde reminded the court that the matter had suffered several adjournments at the instance of the defendant despite an earlier order for accelerated hearing.
In his ruling, Justice Umar said the court had accommodated the defence on previous occasions, and would not permit further unnecessary delays.
He consequently granted what he described as a final adjournment, and warned that the defence would be deemed closed if Sowore or his counsel failed to proceed on the next hearing date.
The matter was adjourned until July 22 for the continuation of his defense.
Sowore is standing trial for addressing President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal” in posts made on his Facebook and X platforms.
While the DSS had earlier joined X and Facebook parent company, Meta Platforms Incorporated, as defendants in the suit, the prosecution had later moved for the companies to be struck out, leaving the publisher as the sole defendant in the suit.
