A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and presided over by Justice Mohammed Garba Umar, has fixed January 22, 2026, to commence the trial of the Omoyele Sowore, the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) for an alleged criminal defamation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The Department of State Services (DSS) had in September 2025, filed a five-count charge against Sowore and social media platforms X Corp and Meta Incorporation, over posts calling President Tinubu “criminal”.

Following a request by the counsel to the DSS, Mr Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, the trial judge, Justice Umar on Monday, struck out names of the two foreign defendants.

Justice Umar in a short ruling, removed X Corp., the owner of the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, as co-defendants in the case.

In the amended charge filed on December 5, 2025 Sowore was slammed with two count charges by the DSS bothering on defamation of President Tinubu.

The new charge is marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025 and signed by Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN on behalf of the federal government.

Count 1 of the charge states; “That you, Omoyele Sowore, Adult, Male, on or about the 25th day of August 2025 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did knowingly or intentionally send a message by means of a computer system or network, to wit: your official “X” (formerly Twitter} handle page, @YeleSowore. wherein you posted the following message/tweet: ‘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 which message you knew to be fake and posted for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in Nigeria posing a threat to life, or causing such message to be sent and thereby committed the offence of Cyber stalking contrary to Section 24(1) (b) and 24(2) (a). (6), and (c) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention Amendment) Act, 2024 and punishable under the same section”.

Count 2 states; “That you. Omoyele Sowore, Adult, Male, on or about the 25th day of August, 2025. within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did knowingly or intentionally send a message by means of a computer system or network, to wit: your Official Facebook handle page @YeleSowore, wherein you posted the following message/post: “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!” which message you knew to be false and posted for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in Nigeria, posing a threat to life or causing such message to be sent and thereby committed the offence of Cyberstalking contrary to Section 241(b) and 24(2) (a), (b), and (c) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) (Amendment) Aci, 2024 and punishable under the some section.

When the charges were read to him, Sowore pleaded not guilty to the two count charges.

However, attempt to commence trial was stalled due to complaints by Sowore’s lawyer, Abubakar Marshall who told the court that the names of the witnesses and their particulars were not attached to the proof of evidence as required by law.

Marshall said the refusal to name the witnesses and disclosed their identities violated section 36 of the 1999 constitution which compels fair hearing in any matter of the nature.

Accordingly, Justice Umar directed the DSS counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN to comply with the provisions of the law by listing names of the witnesses and their particulars and to also supply the defendant with necessary documents that would aid his preparation for defense.

The prosecution alleged that the defendant knowingly and intentionally sent messages he knew to be false through his official “X” (formerly Twitter) and Facebook handles, wherein he published the statement: “This criminal @oflicialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is NO MORE corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to shamelessly lie”.

The prosecution contended that by referring to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a “criminal,” the defendant published a false statement for the purpose of causing breakdown of law and order, posing threat to or causing such message to be sent.

The charges are punishable with a fine of a minimum of N15 million or five years imprisonment.