ALLEGED CYBERBULLYING: COURT THREATENS SOWORE’S LAWYER WITH CONTEMPT

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By ‘Sefiu Ajape

Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday threatened to commit the lead defence counsel to activist and politician Omoyele Sowore for contempt over what he described as rude conduct in court.

For allegedly raising his voice during proceedings, the judge ordered Sowore’s lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, to “come out and kneel down” in open court.

Other lawyers present, however, quickly appealed to the judge to forgive their colleague.

Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services for allegedly making false claims about President Bola Tinubu by referring to him as “a criminal” in a post on his X and Facebook accounts.

The defence lawyer drew the judge’s anger after raising his voice while making submissions, insisting that the date fixed by the court for the defence to open its case was not convenient.

The tension began shortly after Abubakar concluded cross-examination of the prosecution’s sole witness.

The prosecuting counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde, then announced the closure of the prosecution’s case and requested that the defence be called to open its case.

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When the judge asked when the defence intended to proceed, Abubakar said the defendant would file a no-case submission and proposed that the matter be adjourned until July.

Kehinde objected, arguing that the request was part of a defence strategy to delay proceedings and suggested that the case be given accelerated hearing on a daily basis.

In his remarks, 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 said hearing the matter on a daily basis was not feasible but directed the parties to return on April 13 to adopt their final written addresses regarding the no-case submission.

Meanwhile, while Sowore was addressing the court from the dock on how the proposed date might affect his party’s upcoming primaries, his lawyer simultaneously began addressing the judge, explaining that 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 said.

Efforts by the judge to get the lawyer to lower his voice proved unsuccessful.

At that point, Justice Umar warned, “If you shout in this court again, I will commit you for contempt. In fact, come here! Come and kneel down here!” while pointing to a spot in front of the courtroom.

Sensing the tension, other lawyers in the courtroom, led by Kehinde, stood up and pleaded with the judge to pardon the lawyer.

While the appeals were ongoing, the judge adjourned the case until April 13 for adoption of the final addresses and rose for the day.

Earlier during the proceedings, Kehinde informed the court that Sowore had brought a recording device into the dock and asked the court to order that it be confiscated.

However, Sowore denied possessing any recording device, saying he only had his eyeglasses, a power bank and his phone.

Justice Umar recalled that the court had earlier ordered that the defendant should not bring any gadgets into the dock.

The judge directed Sowore to hand over the items to his lawyers, which he did through a court official.

When the case was called earlier in the day, Abubakar said he had only just learned about the court sitting and was not with the case file because he had been attending another matter in a different court.

He requested that the case be stood down until 12:30 pm to enable him retrieve the file from his office.

Although the prosecution opposed the request, arguing that it was another attempt to delay proceedings, the judge granted the stand-down.

When the hearing resumed at about 1 p.m., Abubakar cross-examined the prosecution’s only witness, Cyril Nosike, for nearly two hours.

During the cross-examination, the defence lawyer tendered several newspaper publications, some of which were handed to the witness to read in court.