The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2027 general election, Omoyele Sowore, on Monday, lost his bid to compel the Director General of the Department of State Services, DSS, Oluwatosin Ajayi, to personally appear in court as a witness in his trial for allegedly cyberbullying President Bola Tinubu.
Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the politician’s application while delivering a ruling.
Monday’s ruling was the fourth loss Sowore would suffer since the DSS approached the court to determine the propriety or otherwise of his calling President Tinubu “a criminal.”
The court had dismissed his application that the trial breached his fundamental human rights and also dismissed his preliminary objection to the matter. On the third occasion, the Chief Judge rejected Sowore’s bid for the recusal of the trial judge.
At the resumption of proceedings, Justice Umar delivered ruling on the arguments for and against the subpoena issued to the DSS Director General at Sowore’s request.
Through his lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide Fusika, SAN, Sowore had sought an order of the court to compel the DG’s appearance to testify on official activities of the DSS relating to the cyberbullying case instituted against him.
However, the DSS represented by Akinlolu Thomas Kehinde, SAN, had opposed the move, arguing that another official of the agency could testify on his behalf.
The senior lawyer argued that it was absurd for Sowore to be insisting on the DSS DG’s appearance in court in an action that was purely official and not personal.
He argued that since the action of the DSS in putting Sowore on trial, any official delegated by the organization can testify for the establishment.
In his ruling, Justice Umar held that the subpoena concerned an official act of the DSS and that the expected testimony was not personal to the Director-General.
The court consequently ruled that another DSS official could appear to give evidence on the agency’s behalf.
Following the ruling, defence counsel Olumide Fusika SAN called the third defence witness, Michael Jego, an investigating officer with the DSS, who is currently being led in evidence.