The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday struck out the cyberbullying charge brought against Omoyele Sowore on the petition of Senator Ned Nwoko, and discharged him.
Justice Emeka Nwite made the order after the prosecution failed to appear when the matter was called. Counsel to the first defendant told the court that the prosecution had also been absent at the previous sitting, and applied for the case to be dismissed. The judge agreed.
“This is the second time the matter has come up, and the prosecution is not in court, and the defendants’ counsel has applied for dismissal. I agree with the defendants’ counsel and consequently the case is hereby struck out, and the defendant is consequently discharged,” Justice Nwite ruled.
Sowore’s lawyer, Michael E. Effiwatt, gave that account of the proceedings.
The charge was filed by the Nigeria Police following a complaint by Nwoko. It arose from reports published by Sahara Reporters in 2022 about a foundation linked to the senator and its campaign to eradicate mosquitoes in Africa. Sowore was accused of cyberbullying Nwoko and of suggesting that donors were being misled in the name of the project. He was arrested, and the matter remained before the court for four years without the prosecution bringing it to trial.
Speaking after the ruling, Sowore described the prosecution as a “mosquito trial” and said the court had brought it to an end. He said he had asked how mosquitoes were to be eradicated across Africa if they could not be cleared around Nwoko’s residence in Abuja, and that the question had landed him in court. He said an attempt to turn journalism and criticism into a criminal case had failed.
He added that the court had, unfortunately, failed to award any costs against the prosecutor for not prosecuting the case.
The sitting was separate from Sowore’s trial by the Department of State Services over social media posts in which he described President Bola Tinubu as a criminal. That matter, before Justice Mohammed Umar, did not proceed on Tuesday because the judge was bereaved. The ruling on whether the Director General of the DSS must appear in person as a defence witness was deferred to 19 October.
By John James
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