Abuja: The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday shifted the arraignment of Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters, to Nov. 5.
The matter, scheduled for Sowore and his co-defendants to enter their pleas, could not proceed due to Justice Mohammed Umar’s absence from court.
Justice Umar, who is the trial judge, was said to be sitting in another division of the court.
The court subsequently set Nov. 5 for the arraignment of Sowore and X Incorp. (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) Inc., listed as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd defendants, respectively.
The judge had, on Sept. 30, fixed today to afford Sowore adequate facility to prepare for his defence.
Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in 2019 and 2023, is facing a five-count charge.
The Department of State Services (DSS), on behalf of the Federal Government, had sued Sowore and X Incorp. (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) Inc. as the 1st to 3rd defendants respectively.
The charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, was dated Sept. 16. Sowore was alleged to have made a false claim against the person of President Bola Tinubu by referring to him as “a criminal” on his Twitter and Facebook accounts.
The charge was filed a few days after the DSS earlier requested that the alleged defamatory message posted by Sowore be taken down on his Facebook and X handles.
In the charge, Sowore is accused of contravening the provisions of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024.
Count one of the charge alleged that Sowore, on or about Aug. 25, did use his official X handle page, @Yele Sowore, to send out a message/tweet.
The message is said to read: “This criminal @ official PBAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is no more corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!”
The message, which he knew to be false, was posted “for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in the country, especially among individuals who hold divergent views on the personality of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR).”
The offence is said to be contrary to Section 24 (1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024, among other counts.
