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The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday threatened to revoke the bail earlier granted the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, over his absence in court in his ongoing trial for alleged cyberstalking of President Bola Tinubu.
The trial judge, Mohammed Umar, warned that he would issue a bench warrant for the activist’s arrest if he fails to appear at the next adjourned date.
Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services over alleged defamatory statements he made against Tinubu on his social media platforms.
The DSS accused Sowore of referring to Tinubu as “a criminal” in posts published on his X and Facebook accounts, which the prosecution alleged were false and capable of causing public disorder.
At Thursday’s proceedings, Sowore and members of his legal team were absent when the case was called.
Counsel for the DSS, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), informed the court that the matter was scheduled for the defence to conclude the cross-examination of the first prosecution witness.
Kehinde told the court that the defendant was duly served with a hearing notice through his lawyers.
He added that there was no explanation for Sowore’s absence and none of his lawyers, whom he said were about 30 in number, appeared in court to represent him.
Citing Section 352(1) and (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, the senior lawyer urged the court to revoke the bail granted to the defendant and issue a bench warrant for his arrest to ensure his production in court.
In his ruling, Umar confirmed that the defendant had been served with the hearing notice through his legal representatives.
However, the judge noted that Sowore had consistently attended previous proceedings since the commencement of the trial late last year.
He also observed that some of the earlier adjournments in the matter were at the instance of both the prosecution and the defence.
Umar held that the defendant should be given the benefit of the doubt since it was the first time he was absent from court.
The judge, however, warned that he would not hesitate to grant the prosecution’s request to revoke Sowore’s bail and issue a bench warrant for his arrest if he fails to appear at the next hearing.
The matter was subsequently adjourned until March 16 for continuation of trial, while the court directed that another hearing notice be served on the defence.
Sowore had earlier been admitted to bail after pleading not guilty to the charge.
The court granted him bail in the sum of N10m with one surety in like sum.
The judge held that the surety must be a responsible Nigerian citizen with landed property within the Federal Capital Territory and must depose to an affidavit of means.
Umar also ordered the defendant to deposit his international passport with the court registrar, while the surety is required to submit valid identification and original title documents of the property for verification by the court.
