The trial of the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, Omoyele Sowore, before a Federal High Court in Abuja for allegedly cyberbullying President Bola Tinubu was stalled on Thursday owing to his absence and a letter he wrote praying for an adjournment.
At the mention of the case, prosecuting lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, noted that the defendant was absent in court.
Defence lawyer, T. O. Etonyeaku, who said she was holding the brief of Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, told the court that Sowore travelled to Ekiti State for his presidential campaign activities.
Etonyeaku prayed the court for a stand-down to enable another senior lawyer, who was earlier in court before the commencement of proceedings, to arrive and conduct the case of the defence.
The judge, Justice Mohammed Umar, drew both lawyers’ attention to a letter written to the court personally by the defendant and asked Kehinde if he was aware of the letter.
Kehinde denied being copied with the letter and argued that it was wrong for an accused person, who was being represented by a lawyer, to bypass the lawyer and write directly to the court and also fail to copy the other party.
He added that since there is no evidence that Sowore has discontinued the service of his lawyer, Olumide-Fusika, he ought not to have written personally to the court.
Kehinde, however, conceded to an adjournment in the interest of justice.
The prosecuting lawyer noted that the defence was yet to respond to the written address he filed, as ordered by the court, on the issue of whether or not he could be subpoenaed to testify as a defence witness.
Justice Umar adjourned till November 3 for adoption and continuation of defence.
Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services, DSS, over posts he made on X and Facebook, describing President Tinubu as a “criminal” and accusing him of lying about the level of corruption in the country.