The Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected a request by the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, to compel counsel to the Department of State Services,DSS, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, to testify in his ongoing cyberbullying trial over his description of President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal”.
Monday’s ruling marks the fifth setback suffered by Sowore in the course of the trial. Delivering the ruling, Justice Mohammed Umar set aside the subpoena earlier issued against Kehinde, holding that legal practitioners owe their clients a strict duty of confidentiality and cannot ordinarily be compelled to disclose communications relating to legal representation.
The judge explained that a lawyer could only be compelled to testify under limited circumstances, particularly where the evidence sought concerns an uncontested matter or an issue that would not prejudice the client’s interests.
Following the ruling, defence counsel, R.O. Adakole, informed the court of the defence’s intention to subpoena the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Joash Amupitan, and an All Progressives Congress chieftain, Chief Joe Igbokwe, as witnesses.
Justice Umar granted the request and directed that subpoenas be issued to both proposed witnesses to appear before the court.
The matter was subsequently adjourned until November 11, 2026, for the appearance of the subpoenaed defence witnesses.
The latest ruling comes weeks after the court rejected a similar request by Sowore to compel the DSS Director-General, Oluwatosin Ajayi, to appear as a witness in the trial.
In dismissing the application in mid-October, the court upheld a counter-application by the DSS, represented by Kehinde, that another senior official of the agency could testify on behalf of the Director-General.
Consequently, Michael Jego, an investigating officer with the DSS, was delegated to represent the agency in the proceedings.
On June 22, 2026, Justice Umar ordered his remand at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja, a week after revoking his bail. The judge also rejected his request to withdraw from the case over allegations of bias.
Earlier, on May 8, 2026, the court dismissed Sowore’s no-case submission, ruling that the DSS had presented sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case and ordering him to enter his defence.
The court had also dismissed a preliminary objection challenging the legality of the trial and rejected an application seeking to terminate the proceedings on the grounds of alleged violations of his fundamental human rights.
On April 2, Justice Umar refused to grant any of the three reliefs sought by Sowore in a fundamental rights enforcement suit against the DSS, its Director-General and Meta Corporation, owners of Facebook and X.
In his ruling, the judge held that freedom of expression did not permit statements capable of casting aspersions on others.
“The law will frown at any expression that will cast aspersion on others in the name of expressing the constitutional right to freedom of expression,” the judge ruled.
He subsequently awarded N1.5 million in costs against Sowore, directing him to pay N500,000 to each of the three respondents.
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