Abuja – Omoyele Sowore, activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to a five-count cybercrime charge brought against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).
The arraignment took place before Justice Mohammed Umar at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, also names social media platforms X (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) as co-defendants.
The charges arose from a post Sowore made on August 25 on X, in which he described President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal” in response to the president’s remarks on corruption during a visit to Brazil.
Prior to filing the charges, the DSS had requested X to suspend Sowore’s account and demanded that he retract the post and issue a public apology within a week.
Sowore, however, refused to comply, prompting the agency to proceed with legal action.
Following Sowore’s plea, his lawyer, Marshal Abubakar, applied for bail, citing the publisher’s history as a former presidential candidate and his record of attending court proceedings.
The prosecution, led by Akinlolu Kehinde, opposed the application, arguing that Sowore had a history of breaching bail conditions.
After considering the submissions, Justice Umar granted Sowore bail on self-recognition but warned him to conduct himself responsibly and refrain from comments that could disrupt public peace.
