A Federal High Court in Abuja has revoked Omoyele Sowore’s bail and ordered his arrest after he failed to appear for his cybercrime trial, despite sending a letter claiming he was in Lagos searching for new lawyers.
Omoyele Sowore’s legal troubles just got heavier — he’s now a wanted man, at least on paper.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the arrest of the activist and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate after he skipped his own trial on Tuesday. Sowore was meant to open his defence against a two-count cybercrime charge brought by the Department of State Services (DSS), stemming from a social media post in which he called President Bola Tinubu a “criminal.”
According to Vanguard,things had already taken a dramatic turn before Tuesday — Sowore’s legal team withdrew from the case, forcing him to represent himself. When he failed to show up, he sent a letter claiming he’d travelled to Lagos in search of new lawyers. The court wasn’t moved. Acting on a DSS application, Justice Mohammed Umar revoked his bail and issued an arrest warrant.
It’s not the first sign of friction between Sowore and the bench. He had earlier asked Justice Umar to recuse himself entirely and hand the case to the chief judge for reassignment, accusing the judge of bias — citing, among other things, an incident where his lawyer was ordered to kneel in court.
“My lawyers indicated to me that they are afraid to appear before you and will no longer appear because of the humiliation they suffered before this court,” Sowore said, blaming the court’s day-to-day hearing schedule and what he called the judge’s high-handedness for scaring off his legal team.
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