The Federal High Court in Abuja has postponed the arraignment of Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), until October 27.
Justice Mohammed Umar granted the adjournment on Tuesday to give Sowore sufficient time to prepare his defence.
Sowore, alongside X Corp. (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook), is facing a five-count charge filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) on behalf of the Federal Government. The case, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025 and dated September 16, accuses the defendants of contravening provisions of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024.
According to the charge, Sowore allegedly made false claims against President Bola Tinubu by referring to him as “a criminal” in posts shared on his X and Facebook accounts. One of the counts cites an August 25 message from Sowore’s verified handle, @YeleSowore, in which he accused the President of making misleading statements about corruption in Nigeria.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, Sowore and Meta’s legal team were present, but no representative appeared for X Corp. DSS counsel Mohammed Abubakar requested that the charges be read to the defendants for their pleas to be taken. However, Sowore’s lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, objected, arguing that his client had not been formally served with the charge and stressing that all defendants, including X, must be properly represented before trial could commence.
The court record confirmed that both Meta and X had been served electronically via email. The DSS then sought permission to serve Sowore in open court, a request Justice Umar granted without objection from either Sowore’s counsel or Meta’s senior advocate, Mofesomo Tayo-Oyetibo, SAN.
Sowore’s lawyer subsequently asked for an adjournment to allow adequate time for defence preparation, citing Section 282(6) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015. Justice Umar granted the request and adjourned the case until October 27 for arraignment.
The charges were filed shortly after the DSS requested the removal of the alleged defamatory content from Sowore’s social media pages. If convicted, Sowore faces penalties under Section 24(1)(b) and other provisions of the Cybercrimes Act.