DSS accuses Sowore of deploying dilatory ways

The Department of State Services (DSS) has requested the Federal High Court in Abuja to put aside a subpoena issued by Omoyele Sowore, accusing the African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate of making an attempt to delay his trial by calling the lead prosecutor as a defence witness.

The DSS is prosecuting Sowore over posts he revealed on X and Facebook in August 2025. In the posts, he described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a “criminal” and accused him of mendacity in regards to the degree of corruption in Nigeria. In a movement on discover, the DSS argued that Sowore had acted in dangerous religion by looking for to compel its lead counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), to testify. It described the subpoena as an abuse of courtroom course of supposed to annoy Kehinde and delay the trial.

The company cited Section 192 of the Evidence Act, arguing {that a} lawyer can’t disclose communications obtained in the middle of representing a shopper with out that shopper’s consent. It additionally contended that the testimony Sowore sought was irrelevant to the allegations towards him.

The DSS disputed Sowore’s declare that the prosecution was looking for to delay the case till 2027, saying no utility to droop or adjourn the trial till then was earlier than the courtroom. It additionally cited Section 83(3) of the Evidence Act in difficult the usage of a publication Sowore sought to tender on the adjournment challenge.

The prosecution argued that permitting the subpoena to face would deprive the Federal Republic of Nigeria of its chosen counsel as a result of Kehinde couldn’t act as each lawyer and witness in the identical case.

At the listening to, prosecution lawyer Kenneth Cyril-Ita urged the courtroom to put aside the subpoena, reiterating the DSS’s declare that it was issued in dangerous religion to delay proceedings. The company requested the courtroom to direct Sowore to proceed presenting his defence or shut his case if he had no additional proof to current.