The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday dismissed an application by Omoyele Sowore seeking an order to compel the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Oluwatosin Ajayi, to testify in his defence.
Justice Mohammed Umar held that the request by Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, would not serve the interest of justice. The judge ruled that the expected testimony concerned an official act of the DSS and was not personal to the Director-General. Consequently, any designated officer of the service with full knowledge of the relevant matters could appear and give evidence on behalf of the agency.
Sowore is being prosecuted by the DSS on cybercrime allegations. The agency claims that in August 2025 he published posts on X and Facebook describing President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal” and accusing him of lying about the level of corruption in the country.
Defence counsel Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, had applied for the court to compel Ajayi’s appearance. DSS lawyer Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, opposed the application, arguing that another official could testify and that it was unnecessary to insist on the Director-General’s personal attendance in a purely official matter.
Justice Umar agreed with the prosecution’s position. Following the ruling, the defence called its third witness, Michael Jego, an investigating officer with the DSS. Jego told the court he was a member of the team that flagged Sowore’s posts of 26 August 2025 on X and Facebook and advised him to retract them. He said the posts had the potential to pose a significant threat to national security and that the team monitored reactions to them.
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