The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday warned that it may revoke the bail granted to Omoyele Sowore, former presidential candidate of African Action congress, AAC, over his absence at the ongoing trial for alleged defamatory remarks against Bola Tinubu.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Mohammed Umar issued the warning after the prosecution, represented by Akinlolu Kehinde, informed the court that Sowore failed to appear despite being served with a hearing notice through his legal team.
Kehinde, who appeared for the Department of State Services, DSS, told the court that the matter was scheduled for the defence to conclude the cross-examination of the first prosecution witness.
He noted that records from the court registry confirmed the defendant was duly notified through his lawyers.
According to the senior advocate, neither Sowore nor any member of his legal team, said to be about 30 in number, was present in court, and no explanation had been provided for their absence.
Citing Section 352(1) and (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, Kehinde urged the court to revoke the defendant’s bail and issue a bench warrant to compel his appearance.
In his ruling, Justice Umar acknowledged that Sowore had been properly served with the hearing notice through his lawyers.
However, he observed that the defendant had consistently attended previous court sittings since the trial began late last year, and that adjournments in the case had previously been sought by both the prosecution and defence.
The judge said Sowore would be given the benefit of the doubt since it was his first absence from the proceedings.
He warned, however, that if the defendant fails to appear on the next adjourned date, the court would not hesitate to revoke his bail and issue a warrant for his arrest.
Justice Umar subsequently adjourned the case until March 16 for continuation of trial and directed that another hearing notice be served on the defence.
(NAN)
