Alleged Cybercrime: Court grants Sowore bail, orders two sureties, passport surrender

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Omoyele Sowore

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By Ikechukwu Nnochiri, Abuja

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The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, restored the bail it had earlier granted to activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore.

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Sowore is facing a two-count cybercrime charge filed against him by the Department of State Services (DSS) for calling President Bola Tinubu a “criminal” in a social media post.

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Trial Justice Muhammed Umar, who had earlier granted the defendant bail on self-recognisance, on June 16 revoked the bail and issued a warrant for his arrest.

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The order came after Sowore failed to appear before the court for the continuation of his trial, even though he wrote a letter explaining his absence and requesting a new date.

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When proceedings resumed in the case on June 22, Justice Umar ordered the remand of the defendant in Kuje prison.

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Dissatisfied with the actions the court took against him, Sowore—whose legal team had initially withdrawn from the case over alleged bias by the judge—secured a new lawyer, who promptly filed a motion to restore his bail and quash the arrest warrant.

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When the case came up on Tuesday, Justice Umar held that he was minded to admit the defendant to bail.

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However, the court listed some conditions that had to be met before he would be released from prison custody.

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Aside from granting him bail to the tune of N200 million, the court held that the defendant must produce two sureties in like sum.

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The court also ordered the defendant to surrender his international passport.

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Sowore, in the application he anchored on Sections 35(4), 36(1), and 66 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as Sections 169 and 352 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, insisted that the orders the court made against him were unjust and unwarranted.

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The defendant had, on December 2, 2025, pleaded not guilty to the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, filed against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).

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The charges allege offences under Sections 24(1)(b) and 24(2)(a), (b), and (c) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024.

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The offending posts, made on August 25, 2025, were in response to President Tinubu’s claim, made in Brazil, that his administration had ended corruption in Nigeria.

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Angered by the posts, the DSS demanded that X Inc. (formerly Twitter) and Meta Platforms Inc. ban Sowore’s accounts and remove the posts.

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The security agency also wrote to Sowore, asking him to delete the posts from all platforms.

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Non-compliance with the request led to the charges.

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The prosecution claims the defamatory posts were intended to cause a breakdown of law and order and to tarnish the president’s reputation.

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Exhibits include printouts of the posts and the DSS letters.

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X Inc. and Meta were initially co-defendants but were delisted in the amended charge.

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