…Meta, X dropped
Justice Mohammed Umar, of the Federal High Court in Abuja, has struck out Meta and X as defendants in the amended cyber-bullying charges brought against Omoyele Sowore for calling President Bola Tinubu a ‘criminal’.
The presiding judge yesterday struck-out names of the two foreign defendants when Sowore was re-arraigned, and following the request of counsel to the Department of the State Service (DSS), lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN) withdrawing them from the new charge.
In a short ruling, Justice Umar removed X Corp., the owner of the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, as co-defendants in the new case.
In the amended charge filed on December 5, 2025 Sowore, a two-time former Presidential candidate was re-arraigned by DSS on two count charges bothering on defamation of Tinubu as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The new charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja is marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025 and signed by Akinlolu Kehinde SAN on behalf of the federal government. However, Sowore pleaded ‘not guilty” to the two count charges when read to him.
Attempts to open trial was however stalled due to complaints by Sowore’s lawyer, Abubakar Marshall that the names of the witnesses and their particulars were not attached to the proof of evidence as required by law. He claimed that the refusal to name the witnesses and disclose their identities violated section 36 of the 1999 which compels fair hearing in any matter of the nature.
Concerted efforts by the lawyer to the federal government, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN) could not help the matter, prompting the Judge to shift trial date to January 22.
