By Charles Maduka
A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed Thursday for the commencement of the cybercrime trial of Omoyele Sowore following a case filed against him by the Department of State Services.
Justice Mohammed Umar fixed the date after Sowore was re-arraigned on a two-count amended charge before the court.
In the amended charge filed by the DSS, Sowore is accused of making false claims against President Bola Tinubu by describing him as a criminal in posts shared on his X and Facebook accounts.
The DSS alleged that the posts violated provisions of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024.
The amended charge listed Sowore as the only defendant in the case.
At the start of proceedings, the prosecuting lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, applied to withdraw the earlier charge that had included X Incorporated and Meta Incorporated as co-defendants. Justice Umar granted the request and struck out the charge as well as the names of the two companies.
When the first count of the amended charge was read to Sowore, he initially said he did not understand it but later changed his position after consulting briefly with his lawyer, Marshall Abubakar.
Sowore later pleaded not guilty to the two counts contained in the amended charge.
Proceedings were delayed when Sowore’s lawyer objected to the prosecution’s move to call its first witness, arguing that the defence had not been given enough materials to prepare adequately for trial.
Abubakar cited relevant sections of the Constitution and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, insisting that his client was entitled to receive the names of prosecution witnesses and summaries of their testimonies.
Although the prosecution disagreed with the objection, the judge directed the DSS to provide Sowore with summaries of the expected testimonies of its witnesses before the trial continues.
The amended charge reads:
- That you, Omoyele Sowore, adult, male, on or about August 25, 2025, did knowingly or intentionally send a message by means of a computer system or network, to wit: your official “X” (formerly Twitter) handle page, @YeleSowore, wherein you posted the following message/tweet: “This criminal officialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there Is NO MORE corruption under his regime In Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!” which message you knew fo be false and posted for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in Nigeria, posing a threat to life or causing such message to be sent and thereby committed the offence of cyberstalking contrary to Section 24(1) (b) and 24(2) (a),(b) and (c) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024 and punishable under the same section.
- That you, Omoyele Sowore, adult, male, on or about August 25, 2025, did knowingly or intentionally send a message by means of a computer system or network, to wit: your official Facebook handle page, @YeleSowore, wherein you posted the following message/post: “This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is NO MORE corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!” which message you knew to be false and posted for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in Nigeria, posing a threat to life, or causing such message to be sent and thereby committed the offence of cyberstalking contrary to Section 24(1)(b) and 24(2) (a), (b), and (c) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024 and punishable under the same section.
Leave a Reply