The 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, narrowly escaped a bench warrant for his arrest on Wednesday after failing to appear before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja for his arraignment on alleged defamation charges.
Sowore, alongside “𝕏” Meta Corp (Facebook), is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) for allegedly referring to President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal” on social media platforms.
At the resumed hearing, DSS counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), urged Justice Mohammed Umar to issue a bench warrant against Sowore, accusing him of deliberately disrespecting the court.
“The defendant has been served with the charges and hearing notice since the last adjourned date. Staying away from court despite this is an affront to the sanctity of the judiciary,” Kehinde argued.
The prosecution counsel said no lawyer appeared for Sowore as required by law, describing his absence as “disturbing and unacceptable.”
“I urge Your Lordship to invoke the inherent power of this court to order his arrest wherever he may be found,” Kehinde added.
He further told the court that a letter seeking adjournment, allegedly written by human rights lawyer Deji Adeyanju on Sowore’s behalf, was a ploy to delay proceedings.
Supporting the prosecution’s position, META (Facebook) INC’s counsel, Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), said Sowore had falsely accused the social media giant of “taking sides” with the DSS.
“The letter requesting adjournment is merely a distraction. Sowore is fully aware of what he is doing,” Oyetibo said, aligning with the request for a bench warrant.
However, Justice Umar refused to issue the arrest warrant, citing procedural lapses in the service of court documents.
He noted that “𝕏” Corporation had informed the court that they were yet to be formally served with the charge sheet, even though they had received a hearing notice.
“The court will not proceed until it is satisfied that all parties have been duly served with the necessary documents,” the judge ruled.
Justice Umar therefore adjourned the case to December 2, 2025, for Sowore and the co-defendants to be properly arraigned.
Meanwhile, counsel to 𝕏 Corp, Christabel Ndiokwelo, reiterated that the complainant had failed to serve the formal charges on her client, stressing that only a hearing notice had been received.
After taking arguments from all sides, Justice Umar ordered that all defendants be duly served with charge sheets and hearing notices before the next adjourned date.
The case was adjourned to December 2, 2025, for arraignment to formally commence.
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