RismadarVoice Reporters
January 22, 2026
The Federal Government on Thursday opened its case against activist and publisher, Omoyele Sowore, over alleged cyberbullying of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with a Department of State Services (DSS) operative testifying before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Sowore is standing trial in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025 before Justice Mohammed Umar, following a social media post he allegedly made in August 2025.
Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), the first prosecution witness, Cyril Nosike, told the court that he is a DSS operative attached to the agency’s cyberspace monitoring centre, where he monitors online activities round the clock.
Nosike testified that on August 26, 2025, he monitored posts allegedly made by Sowore on his X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook accounts.
According to him, one of the posts accused President Tinubu of dishonesty during an official foreign engagement.
He added that the handle @officialABAT, referenced in the post, belongs to President Tinubu, Nigeria’s President and Commander-in-Chief.
The witness told the court that he downloaded the video containing the post, saved it on a flash drive, along with a certificate of compliance.
The flash drive was admitted in evidence and marked Exhibit A, while the certificate of compliance was admitted as Exhibit B.
The video was subsequently played in open court.
During the proceedings, defence counsel, Marshal Abubakar, objected to the prosecution’s line of questioning, describing it as leading.
Justice Umar upheld the objection and directed the prosecution to ensure that questions followed the natural flow of the witness’s testimony.
Nosike further testified that the post generated reactions from members of the public on both X and Facebook. He said he took screenshots of the reactions and obtained another certificate of compliance, which were admitted in evidence as Exhibits C and C1.
The DSS operative also told the court that he wrote official letters to the owners of X and Facebook via their email addresses, requesting that the post be taken down because it was generating tension.
Screenshots of the letters were admitted in evidence as Exhibit D, while a demand letter for retraction was marked Exhibit E.
According to him, Sowore later posted the contents of the letters on his social media platforms, which again generated reactions from Nigerians both within and outside the country.
He said the reactions were disparaging and portrayed the DSS in a negative light.
Screenshots of those reactions were admitted as Exhibit F.
A mild disagreement arose in court when the prosecution applied for Sowore’s mobile phone to be taken from him, alleging a breach of court rules.
Sowore argued that it was not an offence to have his phone in court.
At the close of the witness’s testimony, the defence applied for an adjournment to prepare for cross-examination.
The prosecution opposed the application, arguing that all documents had been front-loaded, that the defence was not taken by surprise.
Justice Umar adjourned the case to January 27, 2026, for cross-examination and continuation of the trial.
Sowore was re-arraigned on amended cyberbullying charges after the Federal Government withdrew charges against Meta and X, limiting the case to allegations arising from his social media posts concerning President Tinubu.
