The Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected attempts by the defence team of activist and publisher Omoyele Sowore to tender documents containing alleged past remarks by President Bola Tinubu against former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo.
Justice Mohammed Umar gave the ruling on Wednesday during proceedings in Sowore’s ongoing cyberbullying trial, holding that the documents could not be admitted through the prosecution’s first witness, who had stated that he had no knowledge of their contents.
Sowore is facing two amended counts of cybercrime over a social media post made on August 25, 2025, in which he described President Tinubu as a “criminal.” The post followed Tinubu’s statement during a visit to Brazil that corruption in Nigeria had ended under his administration.
During cross-examination, defence counsel Marshal Abubakar sought to tender online publications reporting alleged corruption within public institutions. These included claims that the Department of State Services dismissed 115 officers for corruption in 2025, while the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission dismissed 27 staff for fraud and misconduct, prosecuted five governors, and arrested Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation officials over an alleged N7.2bn fraud.
Abubakar argued that the documents were relevant to the defence as they demonstrated that corruption persisted in Nigeria, even within anti-graft agencies.
The defence also attempted to tender documents said to contain comments allegedly made by Tinubu in 2011, in which he reportedly criticised the administrations of former Presidents Jonathan and Obasanjo in harsh terms. Abubakar maintained that the statements were relevant in highlighting Tinubu’s own past criticisms of corruption and governance.
However, prosecution counsel Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN) objected to the admissibility of the documents, arguing that they were irrelevant to the cyberstalking charges and did not comply with Section 84 of the Evidence Act. He further noted that the witness through whom the documents were sought to be tendered neither produced them nor had knowledge of their contents.
Justice Umar upheld the objections and ruled that the documents, including those containing the alleged comments by Tinubu against Jonathan and Obasanjo, could not be admitted in evidence.
Earlier, the DSS witness told the court that he was unaware of Nigeria’s position on global corruption rankings and denied knowledge of social media posts by political figures accusing President Tinubu of corruption, drug trafficking and involvement in the death of former Lagos governorship candidate, Funsho Williams.
At the close of proceedings, the defence applied for an adjournment to continue cross-examining the witness. The court adjourned the matter until March 5, 2026, for continuation of trial.
