Abuja: The Department of State Services (DSS) on Thursday presented video evidence showing President Bola Tinubu’s speech delivered on August 26, 2025, during his state visit to Brazil.
The footage was tendered to support the agency’s charge of cyberstalking—defined as the use of electronic communication to harass or intimidate—against activist Omoyele Sowore.
DSS lawyer Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, played the video while leading Cyril Nosike in evidence before Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja. Nosike, an operative of the service, is the 1st prosecution witness (PW-1).
The prosecution also tendered Sowore’s message, which he posted on his X handle and Meta (formerly Facebook), in which he referred to the president as “criminal,” along with the reactions that followed, including a certificate of compliance.
Justice Umar admitted them into evidence and marked them as exhibits after counsel for the defendant, Marshal Abubakar, reserved his objection until the final written addresses stage.
After the evidence-in-chief of the PW-1, Abubakar sought an adjournment to enable them study the witness’s statement and other documents that were front-loaded to them.
The judge adjourned the matter to Jan. 27 for PW-1’s cross-examination and hearing continuation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that, in the amended charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025 and filed on Dec. 5, Sowore is named as the sole defendant.
Although Sowore, X Incorp (formerly Twitter), and Meta Incorp (formerly Facebook) were named as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd defendants, respectively, in the earlier charge, the amended charge dropped the names of the 2nd and 3rd defendants.
Testifying, Nosike said he works at the service’s Cyberspace Monitoring Centre.
According to him, ” my duty is to monitor the cyberspace 24 hours a day.
“I am here to give evidence in support of the charges filed against the defendant,” he said.
He described how he came across Sowore’s post. On Aug. 26, 2025, while on duty at the Cyberspace Monitoring Centre, he detected and monitored a post by the defendant through his X handle.
“The post was referenced as such: ‘This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to say that there is no more corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What an audacity to lie shamelessly.’”
The witness explained that the X handle “@officialABAT” is the official X handle of the President and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria.
He said that after he came across the president’s video, he downloaded it, saved it to a flash drive, and labeled the drive “XYZ.”
He said he also had a certificate of compliance to back this up, in compliance with the Evidence Act.
The judge admitted the flash drive as Exhibit “A,” and the certificate of compliance as Exhibit “B” after Abubakar said he would respond in a timely manner.
The court played the video recording for several minutes.
The video showed President Tinubu speaking about the achievements of his administration and encouraged Brazilians to invest in Nigeria, noting that there is now a conducive business environment with no corruption.
Nosike said that when he saw Sowore’s post, he took a screenshot of it, including the reaction and a certificate of compliance to back it up.
The judge equally admitted these in evidence and marked them as Exhibits ‘C’ and ‘C1’—official evidence labels—after the defendant’s lawyer reserved his objection.
When asked what his office did, the witness replied: “Seeing the reactions from this post, the DSS wrote a letter to X and Facebook, which is Meta, via their email addresses.”
“We also have the screenshot of the letter and the certificate of compliance.
“The letter was for them to take down the post, considering that the statement on that post was generating lots of tension.”
The screenshot of the letter was marked as Exhibit ‘D,’ indicating it was formally admitted as evidence by the judge.
The witness further told the court that the DSS also wrote a letter to Sowore through his lawyers, and that the lawyers acknowledged receipt of the letter.
According to him, the letter was a demand to retract that post.
Justice Umar admitted it in evidence and marked it as Exhibit ‘E,’ officially classifying the letter as court evidence, after Abubakar reserved his objection.
The witness said after Sowore received the letter, despite it being classified information, “he went ahead to post this on his X and Meta platforms.”
According to him, as expected, the letter also elicited reactions from Nigerians, and the responses were far-reaching and painted the service in a bad light.
The officer said he had taken a screenshot of the post and obtained a certificate of compliance—a document verifying that the screenshot was obtained and preserved in accordance with required procedures. Both were admitted as Exhibit “F.”
The witness told the court that Sowore’s inciting posts made their work as security agencies more complicated.
“We have officers and men who have sworn on oath to put themselves on the line for the security and stability of this country.
“Such inciting posts generate tension and make our work more difficult. We take such issues very seriously,” Nosike said.
When Abubakar was directed to cross-examine the witness, he prayed the court to allow him to study the witness’s evidence.
He, therefore, sought an adjournment to February, but DSS counsel objected.
Kehinde argued that Section 396(3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, stipulates day-to-day trial after arraignment.
He said there was no basis for Abubakar’s plea for adjournment.
Justice Umar subsequently adjourned the matter until Jan. 27 for the cross-examination of PW-1 and the continuation of the hearing.
