Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja has turned down the application by the presidential candidate of the Action Alliance of Nigeria AAN, Omoyele Sowore seeking a long adjournment of his defamation trial.
The charge was filed against Sowore by the Department of the State Service, DSS, for allegedly defaming President Bola Tinubu.
Sowore, through his lawyer, Reuben Adakole, on Monday applied that his defense in the charge be shifted till after the two months annual vacation of the court.
The activist who is put on trial for allegedly calling President Tinubu a criminal on his Facebook page and X handle, predicated his application for a long adjournment on the ground that his lawyer, Olumide Fusika, SAN, was out of the country to attend to family matters.
His request was however vehemently opposed by counsel to the DSS, Mr Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, who drew the attention of the court to 10 previous adjournments the trial suffered at the instance of Sowore.
The senior lawyer told Justice Umar that the latest request for long adjournment was a ploy to further frustrate the criminal trial.
Kehinde also drew the attention of the court to day-to-day accelerated trial granted by the court in line with the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice System, ACJA, 2015, adding that granting two months adjournment would be against the earlier order of the court.
In a brief ruling, Justice Umar turned down the long adjournment application based on the previous order of the court.
