A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered politician and online publisher Omoyele Sowore to stop making statements considered harmful to the nation’s peace and security.
In a ruling delivered on Tuesday, Justice Mohammed Umar warned that Sowore’s bail would be revoked if he issues such remarks again.
The judge noted that since Sowore had previously contested for the presidency and had already been granted bail — with his international passport still in the court’s custody — he qualified to remain on bail based on self-recognition.
The ruling was on a bail application argued by his lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, shortly after Sowore was arraigned on a five-count charge, in which he is accused of defaming President Bola Tinubu by referring to him as a criminal in his posts on X and Facebook.
When the charged, being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS), was read to him, Sowore pleaded not guilty.
In the charge, Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in 2019 is accused of contravening the provisions of the the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024 and the Criminal Code Act by calling President Bola Tinubu a criminal.
The two other defendants listed in the charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025 are X Incorp (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) Incorp.
