The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has adjourned the arraignment of the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, until October 27, 2025.
The presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Umar, adjourned the matter on Tuesday, September 30, to afford Sowore adequate facility to prepare for his defence.
Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in 2019 and 2023, is facing a five-count charge.
The Department of State Services (DSS), on behalf of the federal government, had sued Sowore, X (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) as first to third defendants, respectively.
The charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, was dated September 16.
Sowore was alleged to have made a false claim against President Bola Tinubu by referring to him as “a criminal” on his X and Facebook accounts.
When the matter was called on Tuesday, Sowore was in court, as well as counsel for Meta.
However, there was no representation for X.
The DSS counsel, Mohammed Abubakar, applied that the charge be read to the defendants so they could take their plea.
But Sowore’s lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, opposed the application.
The lawyer said the court bailiff was yet to effect the service of the charge on his client.
He also argued that in criminal trial where three defendants are listed, the appearance of the second defendant (X) is sacrosanct.
He said X must be represented in court to ensure that all the defendants had been properly served.
From the court record, the judge confirmed that ‘X’ and Meta had been served electronically via their email addresses.
The DSS lawyer then applied that the charge be served on Sowore in the open and Justice Umar granted the request after it was not opposed by Abubakar and Mofesomo Tayo-Oyetibo (SAN), who appeared for Meta.
Abubakar, however, sought an adjournment to afford the first defendant adequate time and opportunity to defend himself in line with Section 282(6) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.
Justice Umar, thereafter, adjourned the matter until October 27 for arraignment.
