Alleged cyber-bullying: Court threatens to sanction Sowore’s lawyer for contempt
Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja has threatened to commit the lead defence lawyer to the politician and online publisher, Omoyele Sowore, Marshall Abubakar, for rudeness
Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja has threatened to commit the lead defence lawyer to the politician and online publisher, Omoyele Sowore, Marshall Abubakar, for rudeness in court.
Abubakar allegedly raised his voice in court, prompting the judge to order him to “come out and kneel down” in open court. Other lawyers in the court quickly begged the judge to forgive their errant colleague.
The Department of State Services (DSS) is prosecuting Sowore for referring to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as “a criminal” in a post he made on his X and Facebook accounts.
The lawyer drew the ire of the judge when he raised his voice while making submissions in court. He further raised his voice, insisting that the date chosen by the court for the defence to open its case was not convenient for him.
Trouble started when, shortly after Abubakar struggled to conclude cross-examining the only prosecution witness, the prosecution announced the closure of its case and applied that the defence be called upon to open its case.
When the judge asked when he planned to open his counsel’s defence, Abubakar said the defendant would make a no-case submission, and prayed the court to adjourn till a date in July.
Posecuting lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), objected to Abubakar’s submission, arguing that it was part of the defence’s dilatory tactics intended to further delay proceedings.
He suggested that the case be heard on a daily basis.
Intervening, the judge averred that while the prosecution was swift in conducting its case, the defence was tardy, having spent four days in cross-examining the prosecution’s only witness.
The judge said it was not feasible to hear the case daily.
He, therefore, directed the parties to return on April 13 for the adoption of their final written addresses on the no-case submission.
Abubakar seemed uncomfortable with the date.
While Sowore was addressing the judge from the dock on how the proposed date might affect his party’s upcoming primaries, his lawyer also simultaneously began speaking, narrating how his client planned to defeat President Tinubu in the next general election.
“This court belongs to all of us. This court is not for some people alone. It belongs to all of us,” Abubakar said, raising his voice.
The judge’s attempt to make the lawyer lower his voice was unsuccessful.
The situation got to a point where Justice Umar said: “If you shout in this court again, I will commit you for contempt. In fact, come here! Come and kneel down here!” pointing to a spot in front of the courtroom.
On realising the unsavoury turn of events, other lawyers, including Kehinde, jumped to their feet and begged the judge to forgive the aberrant lawyer.
While the lawyers were still begging, the judge announced that he had adjourned the case till April 13 for adoption and rose for the day.
Earlier, when the case was called in the morning, Kehinde told the court that Sowore had a recording device with him in the dock.
He urged the court to direct that the device be taken from the defendant.
Sowore, who the judge granted permission to speak, denied being in possession of any recording device.
The defendant said he had only his eyeglasses, a power bank, and his mobile phone.
Justice Umar recalled that the court had ordered that the defendant should not bring any gadgets to the dock.
The judge asked him to submit the items to his lawyers; Sowore handed the items to a court official, who transferred them to the defendant’s lawyer.
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When asked to proceed with the case, Abubakar claimed to have only learnt about yesterday’s sitting a few moments before the court’s session began.
The defence lawyer said he was not in court with the case file because he was in another court for a separate case.
He applied for a stand-down till 12.30 p.m. to enable him to retrieve the file from his office.
Although Kehinde objected, arguing that it was a ploy by the defence to further delay proceedings, the judge granted the stand-down.
When proceedings resumed a little before 1 p.m., Abubakar cross-examined the sole prosecution witness, Cyril Nosike (a DSS official), for about two hours.
The defence lawyer also tendered copies of newspaper publications, some of which he later gave to the witness to read from.
