Court Revokes Sowore’s Bail over Failure to Appear in Court for ‘Cybercrime’ Trial

The federal high court in Abuja has revoked the bail granted to Omoyele Sowore, activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC).

Mohammed Umar, the trial judge, revoked Sowore’s bail on Tuesday and issued arrest warrant following the activist’s absence from court.

During the proceedings, Sowore and his lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, were not in court.

Kehinde Akinlolu, counsel to the Department of State Services (DSS), told the court that Sowore was absent despite being aware of the
hearing.

Akinlolu asked the court to revoke Sowore’s bail over allegations of tactics to delay trial and absence from court.

In his ruling, Umar said Sowore had written a letter to the court requesting an adjournment but the letter did not provide any reason for the request.

The trial judge revoked Sowore’s bail and adjourned the matter to June 22 for hearing.

THE CASE

Sowore is standing trial on a two-count charge preferred against him by the DSS.

The charge stems from Sowore’s August 2025 post on X, in which he described Tinubu as a “criminal” while reacting to the president’s remarks on corruption during a trip to Brazil.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

After the DSS presented its case, Sowore filed a no-case submission application.

In May, trial judge dismissed the no-case submission application and held that the DSS has established a prima facie case against Sowore to warrant his defense in the allegations against him.

After the dismissal of the no-case submission, Sowore openly accused the judge of bias in the case in the court.

He accused the judge of conniving with the federal government to convict him in a bid to prevent him from contesting the 2027 presidential election.

Umar ordered Sowore to file a formal application for a recusal request.

Sowore, through his counsel, filed an application sent to the chief judge requesting that the case be assigned to another judge.

On June 4, the trial judge ordered Sowore to open his defence.