The Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected an application by Omoyele Sowore seeking to compel the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Tosin Ajayi, to personally testify in his trial over alleged cyberbullying of President Bola Tinubu.
Justice Mohammed Umar dismissed the application while ruling on arguments concerning a subpoena issued to the DSS director general at the request of the defence.
Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2027 general elections, had approached the court through his lawyer, Adeyinka Fusika, SAN, seeking an order compelling Ajayi to appear as a witness.
The defence wanted the DSS director general to testify about official activities of the agency relating to the cyberbullying case against Sowore.
However, the DSS opposed the application through its lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, who argued that the director general did not need to appear personally because the matter concerned official duties rather than his individual actions.
Kehinde maintained that another authorised official of the agency could provide the required testimony on its behalf. He also argued that it was unreasonable to insist on the director general’s personal appearance in a case involving official activities of the DSS.
According to the DSS counsel, since the agency was prosecuting the case against Sowore, any official delegated by the organisation could testify on its behalf.
In his ruling, Justice Umar held that the subpoena related to an official act of the DSS and that the expected testimony was not personal to the director general.
The judge consequently ruled that another DSS official could appear in court to give evidence on behalf of the agency, dismissing Sowore’s request to compel Ajayi to testify personally.
Following the ruling, defence counsel Olumide Fusika, SAN, called the third defence witness, Michael Jego, an investigating officer with the DSS.
Jego subsequently began giving evidence as the defence continued presenting its case.
