- Safiu Kehinde
Human rights activist and the 2027 African Action Congress (AAC) Presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has withdrawn his plan to call the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Adeola Ajayi, as a witness in his ongoing trial over the alleged criminal defamation of President Bola Tinubu on social media.
Sowore withdrew the plan at the resumption of his trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday.
The activist informed the court that the evidence for which he had earlier subpoenaed the DSS boss could be obtained from another official of the service.
Meanwhile, in his reaction, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who personally led the prosecution on behalf of the Federal Government for the first time in the case, objected to the subpoena issued to the DSS Director-General.
Fagbemi, according to reports, argued that the document on which he was expected to testify was not authored by him but by another DSS official who had already testified in the matter.
The Minister of Justice contended that the DSS letter advising Sowore to remove posts in which he described President Tinubu as a “criminal” had already been tendered and admitted in evidence twice by the court, making any further attempt to tender it unnecessary.
He further argued that the author of the letter, Uwen Davis, had testified on July 22 on behalf of the defence and that the document was already in the custody of the court.
On his part, counsel to Sowore, Olumide Fusika (SAN), objected to the appearance of the Attorney-General in the matter, arguing that Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN) remained the Federal Government’s counsel on record in the case.
After hearing the parties, the presiding judge, Justice Muhammed Umar, adjourned the matter until August 3 for the continuation of the defence.