The Department of State Services (DSS), on Tuesday, arraigned Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters, at the Federal High Court in Abuja for allegedly cyberbullying President Bola Tinubu.
Sowore, who was arraigned before Justice Mohammed Umar, pleaded not guilty.
Earlier when the matter was called for Sowore to take his plea, his lawyer, Marshal Abubakar, challenged the competency of the charge.
Abubakar argued that a preliminary objection had been served on the counsel for prosecution, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN).
He, however, informed the court that the preliminary objections was served on the DSS lawyer a few minutes before commencement of the proceedings.
He argued that his client cannot take a plea on a charge that was incompetent.
Responding, Kehinde vehemently objected to Abubakar’s submission.
The senior lawyer, who argued that the application was not ripe to be taken, said the business of the day was for Sowore’s arraignment.
He said the preliminary objections filed was part of the mischief of the first defendant (Sowore)’s lawyer to delay proceedings in the matter.
He reminded the court that so many adjournments had been granted at the instance of the first defendant.
Kehinde, who cited Section 396(3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015 to back his argument, said no application ought to be heard until Sowore’s arraignment.
Lawyers who appeared for X Incorp (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) Incorp (2nd and 3rd defendants) did not oppose the application for the defendants to take their plea.
In a short ruling, Justice Umar aligned with the argument of the DSS lawyer and ordered that the arraignment should proceed.
The DSS, in the charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, accused Sowore to have made a false claim against the person of President Tinubu by referring to him as “a criminal” on his X and Facebook accounts.
The security agency then sued Sowore, the 2019 and 2023 presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC), as first defendant and joined X Incorp (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) Incorp as second and third defendants. (NAN)
