A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday postponed the criminal defamation case involving African Action Congress presidential candidate and activist Omoyele Sowore until August 3. Justice Mohammed Umar fixed the new date after hearing arguments from both the prosecution and the defence over a subpoena issued to the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Oluwatosin Ajayi.
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The issue arose after the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), asked the court to cancel the subpoena served on the DSS chief. He argued that the document the defence wanted Ajayi to present was not written or signed by him. According to the Attorney-General, the letter in question had already been admitted as evidence by the court on two occasions, making the appearance of the DSS boss unnecessary.
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The prosecution also told the court that the letter had already been discussed during earlier proceedings when its author, Uwen Davis, appeared as a defence witness on July 22. Based on that, the Federal Government maintained that there was no reason for the DSS Director-General to testify.
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Sowore’s lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN), challenged the Attorney-General’s involvement in the matter. He argued that another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Akinlolu Kehinde, was already handling the case for the Federal Government. He also said the defence should have been informed before the Attorney-General decided to personally take over the prosecution.
Before the arguments began, the court registrar informed Justice Umar that the subpoena had been successfully served on the Director of Legal Services of the DSS. However, the Federal Government insisted that the DSS Director-General had no knowledge of the service and urged the court to cancel the subpoena and allow the defence to continue its case.
After listening to both sides, Justice Umar adjourned the matter until August 3 for the continuation of the defence. The trial will resume on that date as the court continues hearing the criminal defamation case against Sowore.
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