Justice Mohammed Umar refused the application after Sowore’s lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, applied to tender the document through the third Defence Witness, Wayne Chikezie Elijah.

Sowore is also the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC.

He was alleged to have made false claims against the person of President Bola Tinubu by referring to him as “a criminal” in a post he made on his “X” and Facebook accounts.

Against this development, the DSS charged him with criminal defamation, cyberstalking and incitement.

While leading the witness in evidence by Olumide-Fusika, Elijah told the court that he was a member of the defendant’s former legal team.

He said he had, at the time, accepted service of some court documents from the prosecution, on Sowore’s behalf.

The defence counsel then asked Elijah to produce the document and he brought out a copy of it.

Olumide-Fusika then applied to tender it in evidence but the prosecuting lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, raised an objection.

Kehinde argued that the document, which the defence sought to tender, was a court document, which could only be admitted if it is a certified true copy, CTC, or the original copy.

He noted that in the case, what Olumide-Fusika applied to tender was just a mere photocopy of the actual document, which he argued, was inadmissible.

Ruling, Justice Umar overruled Olumide-Fusika’s argument that it was a court document that emanated from the prosecution and so, required no certification.

According to the judge, the document is coming from the custody of a counsel, who claimed to be a counsel in the matter before.

He said the reason for the need for its certification was to be sure the document had not been tampered with.

“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.

Under cross examination by Kehinde, Elijah confirmed that he was present in the courtroom while the second defence witness testified earlier in the proceedings on Wednesday.

Elijah said: “My lord, I was in and out of the courtroom. The CCTV of the court can confirm that I was indeed in an out of the courtroom.”

Earlier while being led in evidence by Olumide-Fusika, the second defence witness, Uwem Davies, an official of the DSS, who featured as a subpoenaed witness, said he was the Principal Officer, General Services at the DSS.

Davies said he was subpoenaed to testify in the case at the instance of the defendant.

He confirmed writing, on the directive of the Director General of the DSS, a letter, requesting the defendant to take down his post on his X and Facebook platforms because it was generating tension in the society.

The witness said the letter, dated January 22, was the only letter he wrote, asking the defendant to retract what he had posted on his social media handle regarding President Bola Tinubu.

When shown a letter, dated September 7, 2025, addressed to the MD, CEO of Meta, the parent body of Facebook, the witness said the letter contained his name, but was not authored by him.

He said one B. Bamigboye, who was also subpoenaed, was his colleague in the same department, but had since retired.

The witness said he did not interface with Sowore before writing the defendant, but acted on the directive of the DG of the DSS.

On whether the DG, DSS and himself were supporters of President Tinubu in view of their claim that Sowore’s post infuriated a number of the president’s  supporters, the witness said he does not know.

He insisted that as a lawyer in the employment of the DSS, he was instructed by the DG of the DSS to write Sowore to retract his alleged false post about the president.

On whether he interacted with the supporters of the President before writing the letter, Davies said he did not, but wrote the letter as directed by his employer.

At this point, Olumide-Fusika told the court that he would have no option than to subpoena the DG of the DSS, because Davies had been unable to answer his questions the way he desired.

Under cross examination by Kehinde, Davies said all he did in respect of the case was in his official capacity, not personal capacity.

He said the subpoena, which he tendered earlier, was served on the service (DSS) and that the subpoena was passed on to him in his official capacity.

The witness confirmed that he and B. Bamigbose worked in the same department, but that Bamigboye had retired from service and his present location was unknown to his employer.

He said Bamigboye authored the letter to Chairman/CEO X Corp on behalf of the DG, DSS in respect of this case.

He added that Bamigboye authored the letter in his official capacity.

Davies said he had a copy of the letter with him.

Kehinde then applied to tender both documents in evidence, but Olumide-Fusika objected and the judge upheld the objection.

Although Olumide-Fusika told the court that he had 20 witnesses to call, he however applied for adjournment to enable him prepare his application for the issuance of a subpoena on the DG, DSS.

Olumide-Fusika said he had also applied that a subpoena be issued on the spokesman to President Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga.

The lawyer, however, said that the court’s bailiff told him that he had been unable to serve Onanuga with the subpoena.

Justice Umar subsequently adjourned the matter till July 28 for the continuation of defence.

Source: NAN

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The party  also said this year’s election was about the future of the country and it was important for Nigerians to think well before casting their votes.

The governorship candidate of the party in Oyo State,  Engr. Akinwale Laosun, gave the position of the party when he addressed journalists in Ibadan.

He berated the ruling All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party, stating that the fear of what they had both done in the past was affecting their conscience and making them suspicious of one outsmarting the other.

It will be recalled that since the electoral body postponed the election scheduled for last Saturday, the APC and the PDP, had been accusing INEC of working for the other party.

But Laosun while expressing confidence that INEC would  be fair to all the parties, said the top four parties in the country, including the ruling party were just mere duplication of the leading and main opposition parties

He said the membership of the parties comprised people who had traversed and moved from one of the parties to another since the current political dispensation and the level of poverty across the country was an indication of lack of visionary leadership for the country.

He urged Nigerians not to be weary or discouraged by what he described as unpalatable situations across the country.

He said they should turn out en-masse to exercise their voting right in electing a new set of “visionary, youthful and focused leaders for both the country and at the state level.”

Laosun charged the electorate, stating that  the forthcoming election was about the future of the country which must be done with all sense of responsibility if the experience of people in the last 20 years was anything to go by.

He said, “AAC believes in INEC to carry out a credible election. Both APC and PDP know themselves and know each other’s secrets and that is why they are attacking INEC.

“One thing we know is that if the people will turn out to vote in the coming elections, it will be very difficult for the election to be rigged. We have trust and confidence in INEC to conduct a free and fair election.”

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He made this promise while speaking with FrontPage in an interview.

According to him, all 90 per cent of the constitutionally accruable earnings would be put in the SWA and channelled into infrastructural developments, capacity building schemes, skills acquisition programmes and other interventions.

Adeyera explained that the beauty of the SWA initiative was in its transparency.

He said the account would be managed by the people without any pressure from anywhere.

According to him, the account managers would be transparently appointed or elected by the constituents.

Adeyera also spoke on the problem of god-fatherism in Nigerian politics, saying it did not exist in his part.

“We do not have financiers, sponsors or godfathers, godmothers anywhere.  In fact, our campaigns have been supported absolutely by the people –men, women, children, artisans, traders and generally the common people.

“We thrive on the kind and generous support from family members, friends and our folks in the diaspora who form a large percentage of our support base. So, we’re not under the influence of any individual or some groups who would decide the fate of the over 180 million Nigerian people. We have no financiers, sponsors, godfathers or godmothers. The people are our sponsors,” he said.

He stated that it was regrettable that in Nigeria, political offices were not for the poor.

“Reaching out to voters and registering into their sensibilities require huge resources that most of us new breed politicians do not have. Campaign materials cost a fortune because of the prevailing economic situation of the country today. Posters, souvenirs and all cost a lot.  Then the publicity itself takes the highest sum after one has spent a lot on the materials. All these don’t come cheap.”

Meanwhile, Adeyera has declared that the coming election would be a good opportunity for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to prove that it could conduct a free and fair election under its current leadership.

“We call on the government to stay committed to equity, justice and fairness. There should be no intimidation whatsoever. We have seen how instruments of state have been used to intimidate voters and those in the opposition.  Such must not be allowed any longer,” he said.

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