The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has rejected an uncertified court document tendered by the defence of human rights activist and African Action Congress presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, in his ongoing criminal defamation trial.
Sowore is facing prosecution by the Department of State Services over alleged social media posts in which he reportedly referred to President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.”
During Wednesday’s proceedings, Sowore’s counsel, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, attempted to tender the document through a defence witness, Wayne Elijah, a former member of Sowore’s legal team.
Elijah told the court that he had received the document while acting as one of Sowore’s lawyers and had accepted service of it from the prosecution.
However, the prosecution counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, opposed its admission, arguing that the document was a court record and could only be admitted if it was presented as an original or a Certified True Copy.
Kehinde maintained that the defence had presented only a photocopy, which he argued was inadmissible.
In his ruling, Justice Mohammed Umar upheld the prosecution’s objection and rejected the document.
The judge said, “The reason for certification is to be sure the document has not been tampered with.”
He added that since the document had been in the custody of the lawyer who brought it to court, there was no assurance that it had not been altered.
“Having been in the custody of the said counsel, how is the court sure that the document has not been tampered with? The document is rejected and marked as such,” the judge ruled.
Earlier, another defence witness, Uwem Davies, a principal officer in the General Services Department of the DSS, testified that he authored a January 22 letter directing Sowore to remove the controversial social media posts.
Davies, who appeared in court under subpoena, said the letter was written on the instruction of the DSS Director-General after the posts were allegedly considered capable of generating tension in the country.
He also told the court that although his name appeared on a September 7, 2025 letter addressed to Meta’s chief executive, he was not the author of the correspondence.
According to him, the letter was written by a former colleague, B. Bamigboye, who has since retired from the DSS.
Under questioning, Davies said he had never personally interacted with Sowore before writing the January 22 letter and that he was simply carrying out an official directive from the DSS leadership.
He also stated that he did not know whether the DSS Director-General or himself were supporters of President Tinubu, stressing that his actions were performed in his official capacity.
Following the witness’s testimony, Sowore’s lawyer indicated that the defence might subpoena the DSS Director-General to address issues Davies could not clarify during cross-examination.
The prosecution later sought to tender two documents relating to correspondence allegedly authored by Bamigboye on behalf of the DSS Director-General. The defence objected to their admission, and Justice Umar upheld the objection.
The defence counsel said his team still had about 20 witnesses to call and requested an adjournment to prepare an application for te DSS Director-General’s subpoena.
He also informed the court that the defence had requested a subpoena for the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, but court bailiffs had not been able to serve him.
Justice Umar subsequently adjourned the case until July 28 for continuation of the defence’s case.
