A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday rejected an application by online publisher, Omoyele Sowore to tender uncertified documents in his ongoing trial for allegedly defaming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Garuba Umar, dismissed the application after Sowore’s lead counsel, Olumide Fusika, SAN, sought to admit the documents through another lawyer, Barrister Wayne Chikezie Elijah, who had been called as the third defence witness.
The rejected documents included a summary of proceedings from the testimony of a protected witness codenamed “XYZ,” alongside other correspondence connected to the case.
Proceedings took a dramatic turn earlier in the day after the court’s Registrar directed that all prospective defence witnesses vacate the courtroom and remain out of hearing until called. Barrister Elijah, however, remained in the courtroom in defiance of the directive.
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When he subsequently entered the witness box as the second witness of the day, counsel to the Department of State Services, DSS, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, pressed him to confirm whether he had been present during the earlier testimony of the day’s first witness, Uwen Davis.
Apparently mindful of the procedural implications, Elijah told the court that he had been “inside and outside the courtroom” while Davis was giving evidence.
The DSS counsel promptly objected to the tendering of the documents, arguing that they were public documents that must be certified before admission as exhibits, in line with the Evidence Act. Kehinde urged the court to reject the documents outright.
Fusika countered that the materials had originated from court records and therefore required no further certification.
Ruling on the objection, Justice Umar held that the documents had been in the custody of counsel who claimed to have previously appeared in the matter, raising doubts about their integrity.
“The reason for certification is to be sure the document has not been tampered with. Having been in the custody of the said counsel, how is the court sure that the document has not been tampered with?” the judge queried.
He accordingly declined to admit the documents. “The document is rejected and marked as such,” Justice Umar declared.
Earlier in the day, Uwen Davis, a Principal Officer in charge of General Services at the DSS, told the court that he authored a letter dated September 7, 2025, addressed to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of X Corporation, requesting the deletion of a post in which Sowore allegedly branded President Tinubu a “criminal.”
Davis admitted that the letter stated that Tinubu’s supporters were becoming furious over the post and warned that it could trigger a breakdown of law and order.
Under questioning, however, the witness conceded that he could not specifically identify any of the aggrieved supporters, adding that he authored the letter on the directive of a superior officer.
Justice Umar adjourned further defence proceedings to July 28.
The court had at the July 16 sitting, issued a final warning to Sowore to open his defence in the defamation charges filed against him by the DSS or risk being foreclosed from doing so.
Crediblenewsng.com
