Court declines DSS request to arrest Sowore over X, Meta case

A federal high court in Abuja has refused to issue a warrant for the arrest of Omoyele Sowore, the publisher and human rights activist.

The Department of State Services (DSS) filed a five-count charge against Sowore on September 23.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, also lists X Corp (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) as co-defendants.

The charges stem from Sowore’s August 25 post on X, where he described President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal” while reacting to the president’s remarks on corruption during a trip to Brazil.

Before the filing, the DSS had written to X demanding the suspension of Sowore’s account and asked him to retract his post and tender a public apology in national media within a week.

After Sowore refused to comply, the DSS proceeded with legal action, and September 30 set for his arraignment.

However, the trial was stalled after Marshal Abubakar, counsel to Sowore, said the defendant had not been served with the charge.

The matter was rescheduled to 27 October, but the court did not sit that day, prompting another adjournment to November 5.

At the court session on Wednesday, Sowore was absent, prompting Akinlolu Kehinde, DSS counsel, to seek a bench warrant for the defendant’s arrest.

Kehinde said a letter from Deji Adeyanju, who identified himself as Sowore’s lead counsel, said the new date was “fixed off record and without proper consultation”.

But he argued that “the letter was a ploy to delay the proceedings”.

The lawyer noted that all processes in the matter were filed by Femi Falana as lead lawyer and urged the court to disregard Adeyanju’s letter

He then made an oral application for Sowore’s arrest, arguing that the arraignment should not continue to stall.

Tayo Oyetibo, Meta’s lawyer, said he was not against the issuance of a bench warrant against Sowore, adding that the letter from Adeyanju was “disrespectful” to the parties and the court.

Oyetibo said he travelled from Lagos for the hearing only to receive the letter at Abuja airport on Tuesday.

He added that the letter appeared to refer to a different matter, as it mentioned “4 November rather than 5 November”.

He further informed the court that Sowore had accused him on social media of “siding with the federal government against him”.

In her submission, Christabel Ndokwelu, counsel to X, argued that her client had not been properly served and only received hearing notice.

Responding, Umar Muhammad, the presiding judge, said there was no need to rush and declined the request for the bench warrant.

Umar adjourned the matter to December 2 and ordered the prosecution to properly serve X with necessary processes.

He also directed that Sowore be served the hearing notice for the new date.