Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday ordered Sowore’s lead defence counsel, Marshall Abubakar, to step forward and kneel in open court after he raised his voice while making submissions during proceedings.
Umar threatened to commit the lead defence counsel to activist and politician Omoyele Sowore for contempt over what he described as rude conduct in court.
Other lawyers present in the courtroom quickly intervened and pleaded with the judge to temper justice with mercy, eventually persuading him to let the matter go without further sanction.
Sowore is currently being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) over allegations that he made false claims about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by referring to him as “a criminal” in posts published on his social media accounts on X and Facebook.
The tense exchange occurred shortly after Abubakar concluded the cross-examination of the prosecution’s sole witness, DSS operative Cyril Nosike.
Following the testimony, the prosecuting counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde, announced the closure of the prosecution’s case and urged the court to call on the defence to begin presenting its case.
However, Abubakar informed the court that the defence intended to file a no-case submission and proposed that proceedings be adjourned until July.
Kehinde opposed the request, arguing that it formed part of a strategy by the defence to delay the trial. He urged the court to accelerate proceedings and suggested that the case be heard on a daily basis.
In his remarks, Justice Umar noted that while the prosecution had conducted its case swiftly, the defence spent four days cross-examining the only witness presented.
The judge eventually fixed April 13 for parties to adopt their final written addresses on the planned no-case submission.
The courtroom tension escalated when Sowore, who was in the witness box, began addressing the court about how the proposed hearing date could affect his political party’s upcoming primaries while his lawyer simultaneously raised his voice to address the court.
“This court belongs to all of us. This court is not for some people alone,” Abubakar said during the exchange.
Repeated attempts by the judge to get the lawyer to lower his voice proved unsuccessful, prompting the judge to threaten contempt proceedings before ordering him to kneel.
Earlier in the day, the prosecution had also raised concerns that Sowore was in possession of a recording device in the dock. The activist denied the allegation, stating that he only had his phone, power bank and eyeglasses with him.
Justice Umar reminded him that the court had earlier directed that no electronic gadgets should be brought into the dock and instructed him to hand the items over to his lawyers through a court official.
Proceedings later resumed after a brief stand-down, during which Abubakar cross-examined the DSS witness for about two hours and tendered several newspaper publications as exhibits.
