A Federal judge has rejected Omoyele Sowore’s request for a long adjournment in the ongoing trial where he is accused of cyberbullying President Bola Tinubu by calling him ‘criminal’ in his social media posts.
This comes as the lead prosecutor, Akinlolu Kehinde SAN, said ten adjournments have been granted by the court in the ongoing trial at the instance of the defense, constituting a needless delay. He thereby prayed for foreclosure of the defendant’s case.
Justice Mohammed Umar in the continuation of trial Monday rejected the request by Sowore’s counsel, Raphael Adakole, for the adjournment of the case till some time in September, in order to call additional witnesses.
Adakole said the defense have a list of subpoenaed witnesses and that the subpoena is yet to to be signed by the judge. He said there was need for that to be done to enable service on the persons concerned to make them present in court.
In a short ruling, the trial judge said a subsisting order for accelerated hearing of the case remains in force, and that in line with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, trial must be day to day.
He faulted the call for yet another long adjournment till a date that will be convenient for the lead defendant, Olumide Fusika SAN, to be available. The judge said the senior lawyer not being in court is not a reason for the case to not go ahead. On the subpoenaed witnesses, Justice Umar said he will sign the necessary paperwork to make those sets of witnesses present in court.
The trial judge then adjourned the case till July 16 ignoring protests by Adakole that the date would not be convenient, citing other pending criminal cases he has to attend to outside Abuja by the new date given by the court.
Earlier, during Monday’s proceedings, the prosecution concluded the cross examination of the first defendant witness, Deji Adeyanju. The court had played three videos which were previously tendered as exhits before the court.
The video clips played in open court including that where President Tinubu said he no longer accesses the social media in order to avoid the endless verbal attacks from critics, and another where he said ‘no one should bear the brunt of injustice’ for merely writing against him.
Adakole also informed the court that the defense has perfected all the terms of bail and that what was left was for the bail department to give its final endorsement.
He informed the court that there is a snag as the bail unit has insisted on a letter from the lead prosecutor, Akinlolu Kehinde SAN. This is despite his having verified the sureties earlier, as required by the court, during its ruling on Sowore’s bail.
Following the intervention of the court, a staff of the bail unit said seeking the a letter detailing the verification of the sureties is standard procedure. And on hearing that, lead prosecutor, Akinlolu Kehinde agreed to do the needful.
Parties are expected to return on July 16 for continuation of the case.
