INEC chairman's court appearance in Sowore's trial postponed

The trial of Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), faced a setback at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Joash Amupitan, was supposed to appear in court but could not make it due to unforeseen circumstances.

The court rescheduled the case for 17 November after officials informed Sowore and his lawyers around 11 a.m. that Judge Mohammed Garba Umar was unable to sit. In total, 28 other cases set for that day were also postponed.

The federal government, through the State Security Service (SSS), is prosecuting Sowore, who is also the publisher of Sahara Reporters. He faces charges over social media posts where he called President Bola Tinubu a criminal.

The SSS accused Sowore of spreading false information about the president. They charged him with cyberstalking under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act. Sowore has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is currently defending himself in court.

At the last hearing on 9 November, Judge Umar allowed Sowore to summon Joe Igbokwe, a figure from the All Progressives Congress (APC), and INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan as witnesses for his defence. The court was set for their appearance on Wednesday.

It was unclear if either man would show up had the proceedings continued. Before the hearing, INEC opposed the subpoena that required its chairman to present President Tinubu's electoral records from the 1999 Lagos governorship election and the 2023 presidential election.

INEC filed a motion asking the court to cancel the subpoena that was served on its headquarters in Abuja on 6 November. This subpoena also asked Amupitan to appear as a defence witness and bring two sets of electoral records.

These records include Tinubu's INEC Form CF01 for the 1999 Lagos governorship election, as well as an affidavit about lost certificates. It also requested his Form CF01 for the 2023 presidential election.

INEC argued that the subpoena was not valid because it was not personally served on Amupitan, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a professor at the University of Jos. The commission stated that the document was served on its Litigation and Prosecution Department instead.

They also claimed that Amupitan was not involved in the criminal case and that the requested documents did not exist as described. Therefore, they argued that he could not provide evidence about them.

INEC alleged that the request was made in bad faith and could embarrass the commission. They asked the court to dismiss the subpoena.

The case started from Sowore's posts on X and Facebook in August 2025. He called President Tinubu a criminal after the president made comments about corruption during a trip to Brazil.

The SSS later wrote to X, asking for Sowore's account to be suspended. They also demanded he retract the posts and apologize, but Sowore refused.

After Sowore declined, the SSS filed five charges on 23 September 2025. Initially, they included Sowore alongside X Corporation, formerly Twitter, and Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, as co-defendants. But later, they removed the tech firms, leaving only Sowore as the defendant.

He was arraigned on 2 December 2025, pleaded not guilty, and was granted bail. On 19 January, the prosecution changed the case, reducing the charges from five to two and officially dropping X and Meta as defendants.

The new charge accused him of cyberstalking under Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024. This was related to his posts on X and Facebook.

The prosecution called one witness before finishing its case in March. They also presented evidence, including screenshots of Sowore's posts and video recordings.

On 8 May, Judge Umar dismissed Sowore's no-case submission, saying the prosecution had made a case that required him to defend himself.

Sowore began his defence in July, calling lawyer and public commentator Deji Adeyanju as his first witness. Other defence witnesses included SSS official Uwem Davies, former member of Sowore’s legal team Wayne Elijah, SSS investigator Michael Jego, and another witness.

Davies spoke about a letter the SSS sent to Sowore regarding his social media posts. Elijah testified about documents the defence wanted to submit. Jego was called after the court allowed an SSS official to testify instead of the agency’s Director-General.

The latest developments began in October when the court turned down a request for SSS Director General Oluwatosin Ajayi to appear personally as a defence witness. The judge said another authorized official could testify instead.

The defence then sought to compel SSS’s lead lawyer, Mr Kehinde, to testify, but Judge Umar dismissed that request, citing lawyer-client confidentiality. The defence then asked for subpoenas against Igbokwe and Amupitan, which the judge approved, directing them to appear.