The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has revoked the bail granted to the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, over his failure to appear in court for his ongoing trial.
Justice Muhammad Umar ordered the revocation of the bail after noting that Sowore was absent from proceedings despite being aware of the scheduled hearing.
Prosecuting counsel, Kehinde Akinlolu, informed the court at Tuesday’s sitting that the defendant was absent and argued that his continued non-appearance amounted to an attempt to stall the trial.
He therefore urged the court to revoke Sowore’s bail on the grounds of non-appearance and alleged obstruction of the trial process.
The court observed that although Sowore had written a letter seeking an adjournment, no reason was provided to justify the request.
Following the submissions, Justice Umar held that the absence was unjustified and subsequently revoked the bail.
The matter was adjourned until June 22 for hearing.
Meanwhile, Sowore reacted to the development in a post on his X handle on Tuesday, saying the court session was originally meant to consider his application for the judge’s recusal.
He alleged that the decision to revoke his bail was an attempt to control the proceedings, adding that he remained determined despite the ruling.
“The agenda for today was to consider my application seeking the judge’s recusal, but instead, he opted to revoke my bail in a bid to assert forceful control over the trial. I will confront these developments with determination and resilience. This was all planned, but it shall not prevail. The struggle continues!” he wrote.