A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja Wednesday rejected a move by the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, to tender an uncertified document in support of his defence.
The activist suffered the rejection in his ongoing trial for alleged criminal defamation.
Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) in relation to alleged criminal defamation arising from claims that he referred to President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal” in posts made on his official X and Facebook accounts.
During the proceedings, Sowore’s lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN) applied to tender, through the third defence witness (DW3), Wayne Chikezie Elijah, a copy of court documents, which the witness claimed he onced received on behalf of the defendant.
Elijah, led in evidence by Olumide-Fusika, told the court that he was a member of the defendant’s former legal team, during which he accepted service of some court documents, from the prosecution, on the defendant’s behalf.
Elijah brought out a copy of the document, which Olumide-Fusika then applied to tender in evidence.
But the move was quickly countered by prosecuting lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), who raised an objection.
Kehinde, in his arguments, said the document, which the defence sought to tender is a court document, which could only be admitted if it is a certified true copy (CTC) or the original copy.
He said what Olumide-Fusika applied to tender was just a mere photocopy of the actual document, saying it is inadmissible.
Justice Mohammed Umar subsequently overruled Olumide-Fusika’s argument that it was a court document that emanated from the prosecution and so required no certification.
“The document is coming from the custody of a counsel, who claimed to be a counsel in the matter before. The reason for certification is to be sure the document has not been tampered with,’ he said.