By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja has shifted the arraignment of the controversial activist, Omoyele Sowore and two others on Cybercrime charges to October 27.The arraignment scheduled for September 30 could not hold due to the inability of the federal government to serve the charge sheet on Sowore as stipulated by law.
When the matter was called, Sowore through his lead counsel, Abubakar Marshall protested that he had not seen a copy of the charge or be served as required by law. Similarly, he said that the second accused person had also not been served and since the trial is on joint charge, the arraignment cannot hold.
Lead counsel to the federal government. Mohammed Babadoko Abubakar who is the Director of the Public Prosecution of the Federation DPPF debunked the allegations of non-service of the charge and insisted that Sowore had been served. At this point, the trial judge Mohammed Garba consulted with the case file and found that Sowore had not been served.
The DPPF subsequently applied for an order to serve him in the open court which was granted. Sowore personally accepted the service in the open court. Trouble however arose when Sowore applied for three days as required by law to study the charge and prepare for his defense. Though, the DPPF objected to the request but was granted by the Judge.
The arraignment was subsequently fixed for October 27. The criminal charges filed on Tuesday, September 16, 2025 at the Federal High Court in Abuja has X. Incorporation and Meta (Facebook) as two other defendants.
