A judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Mohammed Umar, on Monday, threatened to commit Marshall Abubakar, the lead defence lawyer to Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, for contempt.
The lawyer drew the ire of the judge when he raised his voice while making submissions in court.
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Mr Abubakar raised his voice while insisting that the date chosen by the court for the defence to open its case was not convenient for him.
Mr Umar then ordered Mr Sowore’s lawyer to “come out” of the bar area of the courtroom “and kneel down.”
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Other lawyers, however, quickly prevailed upon the judge to forgive Mr Abubakar
The State Security Service (SSS) is prosecuting Mr Sowore on charges of calling President Bola Tinubu a “criminal” in his posts via his X and Facebook handles.
Mr Sowore was originally charged alongside the parent companies of X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook on 5 December 2025.
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But a recent amendment to the charges saw X Incorp and Meta (Facebook) Incorp dropped from the case as defendants. It left Mr Sowore as the sole defendant.
The amendment also pruned down the number of counts from five to two.
Following the amendment, the SSS rearraigned Mr Sowore in January, when the former presidential candidate again pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Monday’s drama started after defence lawyer, Mr Abubakar, concluded the cross-examination of the only prosecution witness.
The prosecuting lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), then announced the closure of their case and applied that the defence be called upon to open their case.
When the judge asked Mr Abubakar when they planned to open their defence, the lawyer said the defendant would make a no-case submission and suggested that the court should adjourn until a date in July.
Responding, Mr Kehinde objected and argued that it was part of the defence’s dilatory tactics intended to further delay proceedings.
He suggested that the case be heard on a daily basis.
In his intervention, the judge said that while the prosecution was swift in conducting its case, the defence was tardy, spending four days in cross-examining the prosecution’s only witness.
The judge said it was not feasible to hear the case on a daily basis, but directed parties to return on 13 April for the adoption of their final written addresses in respect of the no-case submission.
Mr Abubakar seemed uncomfortable with that date.
While Mr Sowore was addressing the judge from the dock on how the proposed date might affect his party’s upcoming primaries, his lawyer also simultaneously began addressing the judge, narrating how his client was poised to wrestle power from President Tinubu.
“This court belongs to all of us. This court is not for some people alone. It belongs to all of us,” Mr Abubakar yelled.
Attempts by the judge to make the lawyer lower his voice were unsuccessful.
The judge said, “If you shout in this court again, I will commit you for contempt. In fact, come here! Come and kneel down here!” He pointed to a spot in front of the courtroom
On realising the unsavoury turn of events, other lawyers, led by the prosecution counsel, jumped to their feet and began to beg the judge to forgive the lawyer.
While the lawyers were still begging, the judge pronounced that the case had been adjourned until 13 April for adoption, and rose for the day.
Alleged recording device
Earlier, when the case was called in the morning, Mr Kehinde told the court that Mr Sowore had a recording device with him in the dock.
He urged the court to direct that the device be taken from the defendant.
Mr Sowore, who the judge granted permission to speak, denied being in possession of any recording device, adding that he only had with him his eye glasses, power bank and phone.
Mr Umar recalled that the court had earlier made an order that the defendant should not bring any gadget with him while in the dock.
READ ALSO: Lawyer faults hiring of private prosecutor against Sowore, Sahara Reporters in police message forgery trial
The judge then asked him to submit the items to his lawyers, which he handed to a court official, who transferred them to Mr Sowore’s lawyer.
When asked to proceed with the case, Mr Abubakar said he only learnt about Monday’s sitting few moments before the court’s session began.
He said he was not in court with the case file, because he was in another court for a separate case.
He then applied for a stand-down till 12.30 p.m. to enable him to retrieve the file from his office.
Although Mr Kehinde objected, arguing that it was a ploy by the defence to further delay proceedings, the judge granted the stand-down.
When proceedings resumed some minutes to 1 p.m., Mr Abubakar cross-examined the sole prosecution witness, Cyril Nosike, a State Security Service (SSS) agent, for about two hours.
Mr Abubakar also tendered copies of newspaper publications, some of which he later gave to the witness to read from.
(NAN)
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