Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected two sets of documents tendered by politician and online publisher, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, in his ongoing trial over alleged cyberstalking.

Mr. Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) for allegedly making false claims against President Bola Tinubu, whom he described as a criminal in posts on his X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook accounts.

In the first ruling, Justice Umar declined an oral application by Mr. Sowore’s counsel, Mr. Marshall Abubakar, seeking to tender a set of documents comprising printouts of various media reports.

The publications included reports on the DSS’ dismissal of 115 officials for misconduct; the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charging five former governors with corruption; the EFCC’s dismissal of 27 officials for fraud and misconduct; and the EFCC’s arrest of former officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) over an alleged ₦7.2 billion fraud.

Justice Umar agreed with the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), that the appropriate stage for tendering the documents would be during the defence’s case.

The judge held that the first prosecution witness (PW1), who was under cross-examination, had stated that he was unaware of the publications, and that the documents could not, therefore, be tendered through him.

In a second ruling, the court also rejected another set of documents consisting of printouts which Mr. Abubakar claimed showed that President Tinubu, in 2011, referred to then President Goodluck Jonathan as “a drunkard and a sinking fisherman,” and former President Olusegun Obasanjo as “an expired meat.”

Justice Umar marked the documents as rejected for the same reasons cited in his earlier ruling.

The judge also frowned at a report by the prosecution that a member of the defence team had live-streamed earlier proceedings and urged the court to order an investigation to identify the person responsible.

Although Mr. Abubakar denied the allegation and suggested that the act could have been carried out by the DSS or individuals in the Presidency, Justice Umar described the conduct as contempt of court.

While defence counsel urged the court to merely caution against a recurrence, the judge stated that the incident was serious and that identifying the individual involved would not be difficult.

Although he indicated that the matter would be addressed later in the day, the judge did not return to it before adjourning proceedings.

During cross-examination, the second prosecution witness (PW2), Mr. Cyril Nosike, a DSS official, said that at the time the posts were made, President Tinubu’s official X handle was @officialABAT, rejecting the defence’s claim that it was @PBAT.

Mr. Nosike stated that he did not tender any court judgment to show that corruption had ended in Nigeria, noting that he was not a politician and could not offer opinions.

He disputed claims that the DSS dismissed 115 officials for corruption, explaining that the dismissals followed internal investigations and were not specifically for corruption.

The witness denied knowledge of EFCC cases against former governors in 2025, the alleged ₦7.2 billion NNPCL fraud, or the dismissal of EFCC officials for misconduct.

He also said he was unaware of Nigeria’s ranking on the Transparency International corruption index, including claims that the country ranked 140th out of 180 nations.

Mr. Nosike further stated that he was unaware of comments allegedly made by President Tinubu in 2011 against former Presidents Jonathan and Obasanjo, adding that he would be surprised if presented with evidence of such remarks.

On former presidential aide and ambassador-designate, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, the witness said he knew him but could not recall his previous criticisms of President Tinubu.

He similarly denied knowledge of allegations linking President Tinubu to the death of former Lagos State governorship candidate, Mr. Funso Williams, or of any DSS screening of Mr. Fani-Kayode as an ambassador-designate.

Mr. Nosike admitted knowing Mr. Reno Omokri, also an ambassador-designate, but said he was unaware of alleged social media posts or protests linking President Tinubu to drug trafficking or the murder of Mr. Williams.

After one hour and 40 minutes of cross-examination, Justice Umar queried the length of the proceedings, noting that the witness had already been cross-examined for two days.

Although the defence sought an additional day, the court observed that earlier time requests had been exceeded. Nevertheless, Justice Umar granted a final adjournment in the interest of fairness.

The case was adjourned to March 5 for continuation of cross-examination.