Justice Mohammed Umar of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday admitted as evidence a video clip in which former presidential aide and ambassadorial appointee, Reno Omokri, described President Bola Tinubu as a “drug lord,” in the ongoing trial of human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore for allegedly Cyberstalking President Bola Tinubu.
The judge admitted the videos after dismissing objections raised by the counsel to the Department of State Services (DSS), Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN having held that, the defence had met the conditions required for tendering electronically generated evidence under Section 84 of the Evidence Act.
The videos were tendered during the cross-examination of the first prosecution witness (PW1), a DSS operative, Cyril Nosike, by Sowore’s counsel, Marshal Abubakar.
Sowore is facing a two-count charge bordering on cyberstalking under Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024, over social media posts allegedly describing President Tinubu as a “criminal.”
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, Federal Government claims the posts were false and capable of causing a breakdown of law and order.
Sowore, who was arraigned on January 19, 2026, pleaded not guilty to both counts.
At the last adjourned date, the court admitted Sowore’s tweet and related screenshots as exhibits, following testimony by the same DSS operative, who said the posts generated reactions capable of causing public tension.
During cross-examination at Tuesday’s resumed proceedings, Abubakar pointed to the witness the failure of the DSS to personally interview President Tinubu or obtain a statement from him on the alleged impact of Sowore’s posts.
Nosike admitted that he did not record the video of the President speaking in Brazil, did not know who recorded it, and was not in Brazil when it was made.
He also confirmed that he did not obtain a personal statement from the President confirming he was the person in the video, nor did he take any statement from the President on how the post affected him.
The DSS operative further told the court that although the President is the alleged victim in the charge, he had “no idea” whether Tinubu was aware of the post.
Abubakar also tendered court orders issued by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court on February 19, 2024, directing the DSS to return three mobile phones seized from Sowore.
The prosecution counsel, objected to the admissibility of the documents but reserved his arguments for the final address stage after which Justice Umar admitted the documents as exhibits.
The defence counsel also tendered a flash drive containing several video clips of Reno Omokri, alongside a certificate of compliance, which Kehinde objected to its admissibility arguing that the computer generated documents are tendered by the person that generated them and not a witness, citing Section 84 of the Evidence Act to back up his argument.
Abubakar countered that the law does not require the maker of an electronic document to be the witness tendering it, but only that statutory conditions for admissibility be satisfied.
In a brief ruling, Justice Umar dismissed the objection and admitted the flash drive and certificate as exhibits.
When the videos were played in open court, one of the clips showed Omokri during a 2023 interview on ARISE News, where he stated that he had documentary evidence to support his claim that President Tinubu was a “drug lord.”
“Drug lord is not an unprintable name. Bola Tinubu is a known drug lord. I’ve got documents to back it up. I spent my money, went to Chicago, went to court, and got certified true copies. Bola Tinubu is a drug lord,” Omokri was heard saying in the video.
Another clip showed Omokri declaring that he would never work with President Tinubu.
Following the playback, Abubakar asked the DSS witness why Omokri, despite publicly making such allegations, was cleared for an ambassadorial appointment by the same security agency. Nosike replied that he could not speak to the reason.
The defence further put it to the witness that President Tinubu had publicly undertaken to protect the rights of Nigerians who criticize, insult, or disagree with him. The witness said he was not aware of such an undertaking.
Responding to questions on the rationale for the charge against Sowore, Nosike said, “I am not serving on the prompt of the President. I am here based on the implication of the post.”
Justice Umar subsequently adjourned the matter till February 4, 2026, for continuation of cross-examination.
In the amended charge filed on December 5, 2025 Sowore, was re-arraigned by DSS on two count charges bothering on defamation of Tinubu as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Although Sowore, X Incorp (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) Incorp were named in the earlier charge as 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants respectively, in the amended charge, the names of 2nd and 3rd defendants were dropped.
