Proceedings in the cyberstalking trial of Sahara Reporters publisher and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, took an unexpected turn on Tuesday after Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, personally appeared in court for the prosecution.
The surprise appearance came as the Federal High Court in Abuja considered Sowore’s request to subpoena the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Oluwatosin Ajayi, to testify as a defence witness.
Fagbemi urged the court to reject the application, arguing that summoning the SSS chief was unnecessary and intended to delay the proceedings.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the SSS charged Sowore over social media posts he made last year in which he referred to President Bola Tinubu as a criminal.
Sowore, who is the AAC presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections, is standing trial before Justice Mohammed Umar on charges of criminal defamation, cyberstalking and incitement arising from the posts.
Tuesday marked Fagbemi’s first appearance in the case. He led the prosecution team, which included Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Rotimi Oyedepo, and lead prosecuting counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde.
The AGF maintained that the SSS had already demonstrated its willingness to cooperate with the court by making one of its officials available to testify at the previous hearing, insisting that there was no need for the agency’s Director-General to appear.
On July 22, Sowore informed the court of his intention to subpoena both Ajayi and presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, as defence witnesses.
The application followed the testimony of subpoenaed SSS official, Uwem Davies, who appeared before the court on July 22 after being summoned at the request of the defence.
Davies, who identified himself as the Principal Officer, General Services at the SSS, told the court he wrote a letter, on the directive of the SSS Director-General, asking Sowore to remove posts on his X and Facebook accounts because they were generating tension in the country.
He said the letter, dated January 22, was the only one he personally wrote requesting Sowore to retract his social media posts concerning President Tinubu.
However, when shown another letter dated September 2025 addressed to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Meta, Facebook’s parent company, Davies acknowledged that although the document bore his name, he did not author it.
According to him, the letter was written by his colleague, B. Bamigboye, who has since retired from the SSS.
Davies also testified that he never interacted with Sowore before writing the January 22 letter and merely acted on the directive of the SSS Director-General.
During cross-examination, he said he could not confirm whether the individuals allegedly angered by Sowore’s posts were supporters of President Tinubu.
He also stated that he did not speak with any of the President’s supporters before writing the letter, insisting he acted solely on instructions from his employer.
Following the witness’ responses, Sowore’s lead counsel, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, told the court he would have no choice but to subpoena the SSS Director-General because Davies had been unable to provide satisfactory answers to several questions.
Davies insisted that every action he took in relation to the matter was in his official capacity and not in a personal capacity.
He further confirmed that both he and Bamigboye worked in the same department before the latter retired, adding that Bamigboye’s current whereabouts were unknown to the agency.
The witness also told the court that Bamigboye authored the letter sent to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of X Corp on behalf of the SSS Director-General and that he had a copy of the document with him.
The prosecution sought to tender both letters as evidence, but the defence objected, and Justice Umar upheld the objection.
Although Olumide-Fusika informed the court that the defence intended to call 20 witnesses, he requested an adjournment to enable him prepare a formal application seeking the issuance of a subpoena on the SSS Director-General.
He also disclosed that an application had been filed to subpoena presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, but the court bailiff had been unable to serve him with the process.
