Court Threatens Sowore’s Lawyer With Contempt Over Alleged Rudeness

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday threatened to commit the lead defence counsel to politician and online publisher, Omoyele Sowore, to prison for contempt following a heated exchange during proceedings.

The trial judge, Justice Mohammed Umar, issued the warning to Sowore’s lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, after the counsel allegedly raised his voice repeatedly while making submissions in court.

At one point during the tense proceedings, the judge ordered the lawyer to “come out and kneel down” in open court for what he described as disrespectful conduct. However, other lawyers present quickly intervened and pleaded with the judge to forgive their colleague.

Sowore is currently being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) over alleged cyber bullying and claims that he made false statements about Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whom he allegedly described as “a criminal” in posts on his social media platforms, including X and Facebook.

The confrontation began when Abubakar raised objections to the date proposed by the court for the defence to open its case. The lawyer insisted that the date was not convenient for him and suggested that the matter be adjourned until July.

Shortly after the defence completed the cross examination of the prosecution’s sole witness, the prosecuting counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), announced the closure of the prosecution’s case and urged the court to direct the defence to open its case.

Abubakar, however, informed the court that the defence intended to file a no case submission and requested a long adjournment.

Kehinde opposed the request, arguing that the defence was employing dilatory tactics aimed at delaying the trial. He suggested that the matter should instead proceed on a daily basis.

Justice Umar noted that while the prosecution had conducted its case swiftly, the defence spent four days cross examining the prosecution’s only witness. The judge also ruled out daily sittings but fixed April 13 for the adoption of final written addresses on the defence’s no case submission.

The situation escalated when Sowore, speaking from the witness box, began explaining how the proposed date could clash with his party’s forthcoming primaries. At the same time, his lawyer also addressed the court, describing how his client was preparing to challenge President Tinubu politically.

“This court belongs to all of us. This court is not for some people alone. It belongs to all of us,” Abubakar reportedly shouted.

Despite repeated warnings by the judge to lower his voice, the lawyer continued speaking loudly, prompting Justice Umar to warn that he could be committed for contempt and ordering him to kneel before the court.

Realising the gravity of the situation, other lawyers in the courtroom, led by Kehinde, immediately rose and appealed to the judge to pardon the defence counsel.

While the lawyers were still pleading, the judge adjourned the case until April 13 for the adoption of written addresses and rose from the bench.

Earlier in the proceedings, the prosecution had informed the court that Sowore appeared to have a recording device while in the dock.

When allowed to respond, Sowore denied the allegation, stating that he only had his eyeglasses, a power bank and his phone with him.

Justice Umar reminded the defendant that the court had earlier directed that no gadgets be brought into the dock. He then ordered Sowore to hand the items to his lawyer through a court official.

At the start of the sitting, Abubakar had also requested that the case be stood down until 12:30 p.m., saying he had only just learnt about the day’s proceedings and was in another court without the case file.

Despite objections from the prosecution, the judge granted the request.

When the case resumed shortly before 1 p.m., Abubakar proceeded to cross examine the prosecution’s sole witness, DSS official Cyril Nosike, for about two hours.

The defence counsel also tendered several newspaper publications during the cross examination, asking the witness to read from some of the documents.