The trial over the alleged defamation of President Bola Tinubu by human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, officially opened with the Department of State Services (DSS) calling its first witness.
The witness, Cyril Nosike, an official of the DSS, told the court that a false claim made by Sowore against President Bola Tinubu, in which he described the President as a criminal, generated tension and threatened public safety.
Nosike, who was led in evidence by the prosecuting lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), said that in the course of his duty on August 26, 2025, at the cyberspace monitoring centre, he detected and monitored a post by the defendant, Sowore, on his X platform.
He said the post referenced President Tinubu as: “This criminal @officialABAT, the X handle of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces,” in which Sowore stated: “This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is no more corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!”
The witness said that when he came across the video allegedly posted by Sowore, under which the statement was written, he downloaded it, saved it on a flash drive, and marked it XYZ.
When shown the flash drive and a certificate of compliance, the witness identified them as the items he referred to, after which the prosecuting lawyer applied to tender them in evidence.
Defence counsel, Marshall Abubakar, said he would reserve his objection, which he intended to raise at the appropriate time.
Justice Mohammed Umar subsequently admitted the flash drive and the certificate in evidence.
Kehinde then applied for the flash drive to be played in open court for everyone to see, a request the judge granted. The video on the flash drive was thereafter played.
The video showed President Tinubu speaking about the achievements of his administration and encouraging Brazilian businesses to invest in Nigeria, stating that there was now a conducive business environment where there was no more corruption.
The witness said he also took screenshots of reactions from members of the public to Sowore’s post of the President’s video.
He said that, based on the reactions to the post, the DSS wrote official letters to the owners of the X platform and Facebook (Meta) through their email addresses.
According to him, the letters requested the two social media platforms to take down Sowore’s post, considering that the statement was generating tension.
Nosike further told the court that the DSS sent an official letter to the defendant through his lawyers, who acknowledged receipt. He said the letter demanded that Sowore retract the inciting post.
He added that although the letter was a confidential document, Sowore posted a screenshot of it on his Facebook platform.
The witness stated that the letter posted by Sowore attracted reactions from Nigerians both within and outside the country, adding that the reactions were disparaging to the DSS and painted the service in a bad light.
Kehinde proceeded to tender copies of the letters referred to by the witness, as well as screenshots of reactions to Sowore’s posts, which the court admitted in evidence.
The witness told the court that Sowore’s inciting posts complicated the work of security agencies such as the DSS.
At the conclusion of his evidence-in-chief, the court invited counsel to Sowore, Marshall Abubakar, to proceed with cross-examination of the witness.
Abubakar, however, asked the court for time to enable him to study the witness’s testimony before cross-examining him.
Although counsel to the DSS objected to the adjournment sought by the defence, arguing that there was no basis for it, the judge agreed to adjourn the case but rejected Abubakar’s request for a February date.
Justice Mohammed Umar subsequently adjourned the case to January 27 for cross-examination and continuation of hearing.