Court Admits Sowore to N200m Bail, Orders Passport Surrender
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday granted fresh bail to publisher and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, in the sum of N200 million with stringent conditions.
Delivering the ruling, Justice Umar Mohammed ordered that Sowore provide two sureties. One of the sureties must be a traditional ruler from his community in Ese-Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State, while the second must own landed property within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The court also directed Sowore to surrender his international passport to the Deputy Registrar of the court for safekeeping. In addition, both sureties are to be verified by counsel to the prosecution, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, before the bail conditions can be perfected.
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The fresh bail follows the court’s decision on June 16, 2026, to revoke the self-recognition bail earlier granted to Sowore in December 2025 after he failed to appear for his scheduled trial. Justice Mohammed subsequently issued a bench warrant for his arrest over his absence from proceedings in the case involving allegations of cybercrime and criminal defamation.
At the previous sitting, the court ordered that Sowore be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the determination of his application seeking a stay of execution of the orders revoking his bail and issuing the bench warrant.
The judge also dismissed an application filed by the defence seeking his recusal from the case on grounds of alleged bias.
Sowore is being prosecuted by the over alleged criminal defamation stemming from social media posts on his verified X and Facebook accounts, in which he allegedly described President as a “criminal.”
During Tuesday’s proceedings, defence counsel, R. O. Adakole, appealed to the court to release Sowore into his custody to enable him retrieve his international passport from the United States Embassy in Lagos.
After granting bail with the new conditions, Justice Mohammed adjourned the matter until July 6, 2026, for the continuation of hearing.This version follows a standard hard-news structure with improved clarity, chronology, attribution, and newsroom style.
By PRNigeria
