The State Security Service (SSS, also known as DSS) said it is seeking the suspension of the ongoing cyberstalking trial of Omoyele Sowore, a human rights activist and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, to enable him to fully participate in the 2027 electoral process.
In a statement shared with PREMIUM TIMES, the SSS media unit said the agency’s director general, Oluwatosin Ajayi, directed the secret police’s counsel, Akintola Kehinde, to take steps to suspend the case temporarily.
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On 3 August, the trial judge, Mohammed Umar, rescheduled proceedings in the trial for 20 September, when the prosecution is now expected to approach the court with an application for a long postponent of the case till some time in 2027.
The agency said the trial would resume after the 2027 presidential election.
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This is coming amid growing political activities ahead of the next year’s elections.
However, the SSS did not explain how it will approach the case if Mr Sowore eventually emerges as the president-elect.
It is not unusual to suspend the prosecution of a candidate in an approaching election, although the practice does not follow any legal dictate. It is simply at the discretion of the prosecution.
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It is part of unwritten conventions in criminal justice systems in different parts of the world often deployed to give an impression of fair prosecution devoid of persecution.
This is more so in this case where Mr Sowore is being prosecuted for allegedly defaming President Bola Tinubu, a rival presidential candidate in the 2027 general elections.
But Festus Ogun, a constitutional lawyer, told PREMIUM TIMES that the request has no legal basis. He explained that it amounts to “abuse of judicial process.”
He said what SSS could have done was to withdraw or discontinue the case.
The SSS counsel could not be reached for comments. His phone number was not reachable and a text sent to him had not been responded to.
This newspaper reported that the SSS charged Mr Sowore after he criticised President Bola Tinubu in social media posts, calling him a “criminal.”
Mr Sowore’s remarks came after Mr Tinubu made an official visit to Brazil, where he claimed that his administration has defeated corruption in Nigeria.
The SSS gave Mr Sowore a seven-day ultimatum to delete the posts from social media, but the activist declined, prompting legal action by the secret police.
In the case, which has now lingered for more than ten months, the SSS initially filed a five-count charge against the activist, seeking legal perspectives to determine whether any individual has the right to describe the President or any other person as a criminal without judicial pronouncement.
In that case, X Corps and Meta Corporation, which own the platforms on which the activist made those posts, were listed as co-defendants. However, there were no specific charges against them. The prosecution later amended the charges, reducing the number of counts to two and withdrawing charges against the tech giants.
The request for suspension
SSS media unit said the directive followed a meeting between Messrs Ajayi and Kehinde alongside officials of the SSS legal directorate on 20 August.
It said the SSS boss gave the directive to enable the defendant to fully take part in the campaigns for the 2017 presidential election, which is scheduled for 16 January 2027.
“The DSS boss told the Senior Advocate and his directorate of legal Services that, with the commencement of presidential campaigns, it would only be fair to pause the court case in order to enable Sowore to fully participate in the upcoming elections without let or hindrance,” the SSS said.
The SSS argued that the suspension would not prejudice the case, which has already been before the court for almost a year.
The ongoing case had been adjourned 11 times since it started last year. The last time it was adjourned was on 3 August, with the next hearing scheduled for 20 September. The current request by the SSS would be “formally communicated” to the Federal High Court from 14 September, when the court is expected to resume sittings after its annual vacation.
This is not the first complicated prosecution Mr Sowore has faced for remarks the Nigerian government believed were aimed against a sitting president.
In 2019, the Attorney-General of the Federation charged him and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, with reasonable felony for calling for a #RevolutionNow protest. The SSS detained Mr Sowore for months after arresting him in August 2019. But the trial made no significant progress, suffering several adjournments, up till when the President Tinubu administration came on board 2023 and withdrew the charges in February 2024.
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