* Orders him to “kneel down”
*Prosecution begs on counsel’s behalf, closes case
Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday threatened to commit the lead defence lawyer to politician and online publisher, Omoyele Sowore, Marshall Abubakar, for contempt over rudeness in court.
For raising his voice in court, the judge ordered Sowore’s lawyer to “come out and kneel down” in open court. Other lawyers, however, quickly prevailed upon the judge to forgive their errant colleague.
Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) for allegedly making false claims against the person of President Bola Tinubu by referring to him as “a criminal” in a post he made on his “X” and Facebook accounts.
The lawyer drew the ire of the judge when he raised his voice while making submissions in court. The lawyer further raised his voice and insisted that the date chosen by the court for the defence to open its case was not convenient for him.
Trouble started when, shortly after Abubakar struggled to conclude cross examining the only prosecution witness, the prosecuting lawyer announced the closure of the prosecution’s case and applied that the defence be called upon to open its case.
When asked by the judge when he planned to open his counsel s defence, Abubakar said the defendant would make a no-case submission and suggested that the court should adjourn till a date in July.
Prosecuting lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), objected and argued that it was part of the defence’s dilatory tactics intended to further delay proceedings. He suggested that the case be heard on a daily basis.
In his intervention, the judge regretted that, while the prosecution was swift in conducting its case, the defence was tardy, spent a whole four days in cross examining the prosecution’s only witness.
The judge said it was not feasible to hear the case heard on a daily basis, but directed parties to return on April 13 for the adoption of their final written addresses in respect of the no-case submission. Abubakar seemed uncomfortable with that date.
Whilst Sowore was addressing the judge from the witness box on how the proposed date might affect his party’s upcoming primaries, his lawyer also simultaneously began addressing the judge, narrating how his client was poised to wrest power from President Tinubu.
“This court belongs to all of us. This court is not for some people alone. It belongs to all of us,” yelled Marshall.
Attempts by the judge to make the lawyer lower his voice were unsuccessful. At that point, Justice Umar bellowed, “If you shout in this court again, I will commit you for contempt. In fact, come here! Come and kneel down here!” pointing to a spot in front of the courtroom.
On realising the unsavoury turn of events, other lawyers led by the only SAN in the courtroom, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, jumped to their feet and began begging the judge to forgive the aberrant lawyer.
While the lawyers were still upstanding begging, the judge pronounced that the case has been adjourned till April 13 for adoption, and rose for the day.
Earlier, when the case was called in the morning, Kehinde told the court that Sowore had a recording device with him in the dock.
He urged the court to direct that the device be taken from the defendant.
Sowore, who the judge granted permission to speak, denied being in possession of any recording device, adding that he only had with him his eye glasses, power bank and phone.
Justice Umar recalled that the court had earlier made an order that the defendant should not bring any gadget with him while in the dock.
The judge then asked him to submit the items to his lawyers, which he handed to a court official, who transferred them to Sowore’s lawyer.
When asked to proceed with the case, Abubakar claimed to have only learnt about Monday’s sitting few moments before the court’s session began.
Abubakar said he was not in court with the case file, because he was in another court for a separate case. He then applied for a stand down till 12. 30 pm to enable him retrieve the file from his office.
Although Kehinde objected, arguing that it was a ploy by the defence to further delay proceedings, the judge granted the stand down.
When proceedings resumed a little to 1pm, Abubakar cross-examined the sole prosecution witness, Cyril Nosike (a DSS official) for about two hours.
Abubakar also tendered copies of newspaper publications, some of which he later gave to the witness to read from.
