Justice Mohammed Garuba Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected the bid by presidential candidate of the of the African Alliance Congress, AAC, Omoyele Sowore, to tender uncertified documents in his trial for allegedly making defamatory statements against President Bola Tinubu.
The judge on Wednesday refused the bid when Sowore’s lead
counsel, Olumide Fusika, SAN, applied to tender some uncertified documents
through another lawyer, Barrister Wayne Chikezie Elijah.
The documents are summary of proceedings in testimony of a
witness codenamed XYZ, along with other vital letters.
Midway into Wednesday’s proceedings, Fusika had called Elijah as his third witness
in the defense of the activist for the purpose of tendering the vital
documents.
Trouble had started when the registrar of the court
announced that those to testify in the matter for the defense should leave the
courtroom and go out of hearing, an announcement the lawyer failed to honour.
When he was called into the witness box as second witness
for the day, DSS lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, asked him to confirm his
presence in court when the first witness of the day, Uwen Davis, was
testifying.
Sensing the implications of his being in the courtroom,
against the registrar’s directive, the legal practitioner informed Justice
Mohammed Garuba Umar that he was inside and outside the courtroom when the
first witness was giving evidence.
The DSS counsel proceeded to object to the tendering of the
documents on the ground that they were public documents and ought to be
certified before they can be admitted as exhibits.
Kehinde urged the judge to reject admitting the documents
and mark them as rejected on the ground that the bid offended the Evidence Act.
Sowore’s counsel, Fusika, however countered the DSS lawyer,
arguing that the documents came from court records and need not be certified.
Ruling on application, Justice Umar held that the documents
are coming from the custody of a counsel who claimed to be a counsel in the
matter before.
He said, “The reason for certification is to be sure the
document has not been tampered with. Having been in the custody of the said
counsel, how is the court sure that the document has not been tampered with?”
Justice Umar subsequently rejected the documents and marked
them as rejected.
“The document is rejected and marked as such,” the judge
ruled.
Earlier, Uwen Davis, a Principal Officer, General Services
in the DSS, had testified that he authored a letter dated September 7, 2025 and
delivered to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of X Corporation, asking
him to delete the post where Sowore allegedly called President Bola Tinubu a
criminal.
He admitted that the letter stated that Tinubu’s supporters
are becoming furious and that the offending post could lead to breakdown of law
and order.
Answering a question, the witness said he cannot name
Tinubu’s supporters that were becoming furious, adding that he authored the
letter based on a directive to do so by his superior officer.
Meanwhile, the continuation of the defense has been
adjourned to July 28.
It will be recalled that Justice Umar had, during
proceedings on July 16, 2026, issued a final warning to Sowore to resume his
defence in the trial.
The judge issued the warning following the absence of
Sowore’s lead counsel during the proceedings.
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