The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the arraignment of Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, until 27 October.

Justice Mohammed Umar made the decision on Tuesday to give Sowore sufficient time to prepare his defence.

Sowore, who contested the presidency on the platform of the African Action Congress (AAC) in 2019 and 2023, is facing a five-count charge.

The Department of State Services (DSS), acting on behalf of the Federal Government, filed the case against Sowore, X Inc. (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) Inc., listed as the 1st to 3rd defendants respectively. The charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, was dated 16 September.

Sowore is accused of falsely describing President Bola Tinubu as “a criminal” on his X and Facebook accounts.

When the case was called on Tuesday, Sowore and counsel representing Meta were present. However, there was no legal representation for X.

The DSS counsel, Mohammed Abubakar, asked that the charges be read to the defendants for their plea. But Sowore’s lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, opposed the application, arguing that the charge had not been formally served on his client.

He further contended that since three defendants were listed, the presence of the 2nd defendant, X Inc., was essential to the commencement of trial.

Court records confirmed that both X and Meta had been served electronically via their email addresses. The DSS lawyer then applied for Sowore to be served in open court. Justice Umar granted the request, with no objection raised by either Marshall Abubakar or Mofesomo Tayo-Oyetibo, SAN, appearing for Meta.

Sowore’s counsel nevertheless sought an adjournment to allow his client adequate time to prepare his defence in line with Section 282(6) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

Justice Umar adjourned the matter to 27 October for arraignment.

NAN reports that the charge was filed days after the DSS asked Sowore to delete the alleged defamatory posts on his Facebook and X accounts.

According to the charge, Sowore is accused of contravening provisions of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024.

Count one alleges that on or about 25 August, Sowore used his official X handle, @YeleSowore, to post the message: “THIS CRIMINAL @ OFFICIAL PBAT ACTUALLY WENT TO BRAZIL TO STATE THAT THERE IS NO MORE CORRUPTION UNDER HIS REGIME IN NIGERIA. WHAT AUDACITY TO LIE SHAMELESSLY!”

The prosecution argues that Sowore knew the claim to be false and published it to incite breakdown of law and order, particularly among citizens holding divergent views about President Tinubu.

The offence, the DSS said, contravenes Section 24(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024, among other counts.