Human rights activist and former African Action Congress presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, on Tuesday withdrew his application seeking to subpoena the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Oluwatosin Ajayi, to testify in his ongoing criminal defamation trial.
Sowore told the Federal High Court in Abuja that the evidence he sought from the DSS chief could instead be presented by another official of the agency.
His decision came after an objection raised by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who represented the Federal Government during the court proceedings.
Fagbemi argued that the subpoena issued to Ajayi should be nullified on the grounds that the document the DSS Director-General was expected to produce was neither prepared nor signed by him.
The AGF further submitted that the document—a letter written to Sowore asking him to delete a Facebook post in which he allegedly described President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal”—had already been tendered and admitted in evidence twice by the court.
He added that the author of the letter, Uwen Davis, testified in the matter on July 22 on behalf of the defence, making the appearance of the DSS Director-General unnecessary.
Counsel for Sowore, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN), initially opposed the AGF’s intervention, arguing that another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Akinlolu Kehinde, was already the counsel on record for the Federal Government.
Olumide-Fusika also contended that although the Attorney General has the constitutional authority to appear in any matter, due notice ought to have been given to the defence before taking over the prosecution.
Earlier in the proceedings, the court confirmed that the subpoena had been served on the Director of Legal Services of the DSS after the court registrar informed Justice Mohammed Umar that service had been effected.
The Federal Government, however, maintained that Ajayi was unaware of the service and urged the court to vacate the subpoena and direct the defence to proceed with its case.
Following the arguments, Sowore informed the court that he would no longer insist on the appearance of the DSS Director-General, admitting that the evidence sought could be obtained through another official of the service.
Justice Umar subsequently adjourned the matter until August 3 for the continuation of the defence.
