There was mild drama at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday when the courtroom burst into laughter during the playback of a video of President Bola Tinubu’s speech made on August 26, 2025, during his state visit to Brazil.
The video was tendered by the Department of State Services (DSS) as part of its evidence in the alleged cyberstalking case against human rights activist and the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore.
At the resumed hearing, counsel to the DSS, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, called its first witness, Cyril Nosike (PW-1), an operative of the service, who testified before the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Umar.
Nosike told the court that he obtained screenshots of posts allegedly made by Sowore on his verified X (formerly Twitter) handle and Facebook page, in which he described President Bola Tinubu as “a criminal.”
Following his testimony, court officials played the video recording of the President’s speech delivered in Brazil.
The courtroom remained silent until President Tinubu, in the video, stated that he had “fought corruption to a standstill” and that “there was no corruption in Nigeria any longer.”
At that point, the atmosphere in the courtroom changed as lawyers, court officials, and journalists burst into laughter, openly disagreeing with the President’s claim. The reaction momentarily halted proceedings for several minutes.
The prosecution also alleged that Sowore was using his mobile phone to send messages while the proceedings were ongoing.
Sowore denied the allegation, insisting he was not using his phone as claimed. The judge subsequently directed Sowore to hand over his phone to his counsel.
In addition, the prosecution tendered messages allegedly posted by Sowore on his X handle and Meta platforms (formerly Facebook), which were admitted in evidence.
Sowore’s lead counsel, Marshal Abubakar, reserved his objections to the admissibility of the exhibits until the stage of final written addresses. He also requested an adjournment to enable the defence to study the witness’s statement and other documents earlier served on them.
Justice Umar adjourned the matter to January 27 for cross-examination of the prosecution’s first witness and continuation of hearing.
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