Get Guardian on GoogleThe Department of State Services (DSS) has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to set aside a subpoena issued by African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, seeking to compel its lead counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, to testify in his trial for allegedly cyberbullying President Bola Tinubu.
The DSS described the move as a deliberate attempt to delay the trial, arguing that the subpoena was issued in bad faith and amounted to an abuse of court process.
The agency also contended that the evidence Sowore intended to obtain from its lawyer was irrelevant to the charge against him.
The submission came on Tuesday as the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Garba Umar, fixed November 9 to rule on Sowore’s application.
The judge set the date after hearing arguments from lawyers representing both parties.
At the proceedings, counsel to the DSS, Kenneth Cyril-Ita, urged the court to set aside the subpoena issued against Kehinde, arguing that a legal practitioner could not serve as both counsel and witness in the same case.
Cyril-Ita also relied on Section 192 of the Evidence Act, which protects communications made to legal practitioners in the course of their professional engagement, except with the consent of their clients.
He described the subpoena as strange to law and criminal proceedings, adding that it was calculated to annoy and irritate the DSS lead counsel.
The DSS lawyer further argued that the evidence Sowore sought to obtain through the subpoena had no bearing on the alleged cyberbullying offence.
Contrary to the defendant’s claim, he said, there was no application before the court seeking to suspend or adjourn the trial until 2027.
“By not setting aside the subpoena, the Court is being invited to deprive the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a counsel of its choice in the prosecution of the matter, as counsel cannot be a witness and counsel at the same time in the same matter,” he argued.
Cyril-Ita also cited Section 83(3) of the Evidence Act in challenging the admissibility of the evidence Sowore intended to obtain, arguing that the issue of whether the complainant would seek an adjournment was covered by the provision.
He urged the court to set aside the subpoena and direct Sowore to proceed with his defence against the charges.
However, Sowore’s counsel, Adeyinka Olumide Fusika, SAN, urged the court to uphold the subpoena, maintaining the defendant’s request to have the DSS lead counsel testify in the case.
After hearing both sides, Justice Umar adjourned the matter until November 9 for ruling on the application.
