The Federal High Court in Abuja has warned that it may revoke the bail granted to politician and publisher Omoyele Sowore if he fails to appear at the next hearing in his ongoing cybercrime trial.
Presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Umar, issued the warning on Thursday, stating that the court could also issue a bench warrant for Sowore’s arrest should he fail to attend the upcoming session.
The warning followed submissions by the prosecuting counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), who informed the court that the defendant was absent despite evidence showing that a hearing notice had been duly served on him through his legal representatives.
Sowore is currently being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) over allegations that he made defamatory claims against President Bola Tinubu by referring to him as a criminal in posts shared on his X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook accounts.
At Thursday’s proceedings, neither Sowore nor any member of his legal team—reportedly numbering about 30 lawyers—was present in court.
Addressing the court, Kehinde explained that the matter was scheduled for the defence to conclude its cross-examination of the prosecution’s first witness.
He further stated that confirmation from the court registry showed that hearing notices had been properly served on both the defence and the prosecution.
The prosecuting lawyer argued that the defendant was expected to be present at every sitting of the court and had failed to provide any explanation for the absence of both himself and his counsel.
Citing Sections 352(1) and (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, Kehinde urged the court to revoke Sowore’s bail and issue a bench warrant for his immediate arrest to ensure his appearance in court.
In his ruling, Justice Umar acknowledged that Sowore had indeed been served through his lawyers. However, he noted that the defendant had consistently appeared in court since the trial commenced late last year.
The judge also observed that previous adjournments had been requested by both the prosecution and the defence at different times during the proceedings.
Given that it was the first instance of Sowore’s absence, Justice Umar said the court would give the defendant the benefit of the doubt.
He, however, issued a firm warning that failure to appear at the next hearing would prompt the court to grant the prosecution’s request to revoke the bail and issue an arrest warrant.
The case was subsequently adjourned to March 16 for continuation of trial, with the court directing that another hearing notice be served on the defence.
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