A Federal High Court in Abuja was thrown into chaos on Monday when Marshall Abubakar, the lead defence lawyer for Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore, was threatened with contempt by Judge Mohammed Umar. Abubakar had raised his voice while objecting to the court’s proposed date for the defence to open its case, prompting Umar to order him to “come out” of the bar area and “kneel down.”
The incident occurred during the trial of Sowore, who is being prosecuted by the State Security Service (SSS) for calling President Bola Tinubu a “criminal” on social media. The SSS had initially charged Sowore alongside the parent companies of X and Facebook, but they were later dropped from the case.
Earlier, the court had directed Sowore to surrender his recording device, which he denied possessing. The judge adjourned the case until April 13 for the adoption of final written addresses.
Abubakar’s outburst came after he was unhappy with the court’s proposed date, citing his client’s upcoming party primaries. The judge had previously warned Abubakar to lower his voice, but he continued to argue, leading to the threat of contempt. Other lawyers intervened, begging the judge to forgive Abubakar.
