Omoyele Sowore yesterday failed to enter a defence in his ongoing trial at the Federal High Court Abuja on cyberbul‑ lying-related offences.

The rights activist is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) for allegedly making false claims against President Bola Tinubu by referring to him as “a criminal” in a post he made on his X and Facebook accounts.

When the case last came up on May 8, Jus‑ tice Mohammed Umar dismissed Sowore’s no case submission and upheld the argument by Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), lawyer for the DSS, that a prima facie case has been established against the politician to warrant his being called upon to enter a defence. Justice Umar then or‑ dered the defendant to enter his defence against the case already made out against him by the prosecution.

After the ruling, Sowore and his lawyer Marshall Abubakar applied orally that the judge should withdraw from further handling the case on grounds of alleged bias.