The trial of Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress over alleged cyberbullying was stalled on Thursday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, following his absence from court and a personal letter to the court seeking an adjournment.
When the case was called, prosecuting counsel Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, drew the court’s attention to the defendant’s absence.
Defence lawyer T. O. Etonyeaku, who held the brief of Sowore’s lead counsel, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, told the court that the politician was in Ekiti State for his presidential campaign. She sought a stand-down of the matter to allow another senior lawyer, who had been in court before proceedings began, to arrive and conduct the defence.
Justice Mohammed Umar then drew the attention of both lawyers to a letter the defendant had written to the court, and asked Kehinde whether he was aware of it.
The prosecutor said he had not been copied on the letter, and argued that it was improper for an accused person represented by counsel to bypass his lawyer and write directly to the court without copying the other party.
He submitted that since there was no evidence that Sowore had dispensed with the services of Olumide-Fusika, he ought not to have written to the court personally.
Kehinde, however, did not oppose an adjournment, conceding to it in the interest of justice.
The prosecutor also told the court that the defence was yet to respond to the written address he filed, as ordered, on the question of whether he could be subpoenaed to testify as a defence witness.
Justice Umar subsequently adjourned the matter to November 3 for adoption of processes and continuation of the defence.
Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) over posts he published in August 2025 on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, in which he described President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal” and accused him of misrepresenting the level of corruption in the country.
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