Judge rules documents inadmissible, says DSS witness lacked knowledge as Sowore faces cybercrime charges over Tinubu post

The Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected a batch of documents tendered by the defence in the ongoing cyberbullying trial of activist and publisher, Omoyele Sowore.

Justice Mohammed Umar, on Wednesday, ruled that the exhibits could not be admitted in evidence because they were improperly presented through the prosecution’s first witness, who had earlier told the court he had no knowledge of the documents or their contents.

Sowore is standing trial on a two-count amended charge of cybercrime, following a social media post made on August 25, 2025, in which he described President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.” The post was reportedly made after Tinubu stated during a visit to Brazil that corruption had ended in Nigeria under his administration.

During cross-examination, defence counsel, Marshal Abubakar, attempted to tender several online publications detailing alleged corruption cases involving public institutions and officials. The documents included reports of dismissals within the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as well as prosecutions handled by the anti-graft agency.

Abubakar told the court that the DSS had dismissed 115 officers in 2025 over corruption allegations, while the EFCC had dismissed 27 staff for fraud and misconduct, charged five governors with corruption, and arrested officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over an alleged N7.2 billion fraud.

He argued that the documents were relevant to the case, insisting they were meant to demonstrate that corruption had not ended in Nigeria and that even anti-corruption agencies continued to grapple with internal misconduct.

However, prosecution counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), objected, arguing that the documents were irrelevant to the cyberstalking charge and failed to comply with Section 84 of the Evidence Act governing the admissibility of electronic evidence. He further noted that the publications were neither produced by the witness nor shown to have any direct bearing on the charge against Sowore.

In his ruling, Justice Umar upheld the objection, stating that documents could not be tendered through a witness who had expressly disclaimed knowledge of them. The exhibits were accordingly marked rejected.

The defence also sought to tender documents allegedly containing past statements attributed to President Tinubu against former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo, alongside reports on Nigeria’s corruption ranking by Transparency International.

Abubakar claimed that Tinubu, in 2011, had described then-President Jonathan as a “drunkard and sinking fisherman” and his administration as “corrupt and shameless,” while also referring to former President Obasanjo as “expired meat.” The DSS witness, however, told the court he was unaware of the alleged statements.

Once again, the prosecution objected on grounds of relevance and admissibility, noting that the individual who purportedly made the statements in the documents was not before the court as a witness. Justice Umar sustained the objection and rejected the documents.

In his testimony, the DSS witness also said he was unaware of Nigeria’s position on the global corruption index and denied knowledge of alleged social media posts by political figures such as Femi Fani-Kayode and Reno Omokri, which accused President Tinubu of corruption, drug trafficking, and complicity in the killing of former Lagos governorship candidate, Funsho Williams.

At the close of proceedings, Abubakar applied for an adjournment to continue cross-examination. Justice Umar adjourned the case to March 5, 2026, for continuation of trial.