Courtroom Heat: Judge revokes Sowore’s bail, orders arrest

The Federal High Court didn’t wait for excuses today, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. The bench warrant came down fast, sharp, and final.

The target was Omoyele Sowore. Online publisher. AAC presidential candidate. Perennial thorn in the government’s side.

Read the charge: Alleged criminal defamation. Five counts. All over one social media post where he called President Bola Tinubu a “criminal.”

DSS asked him to delete it. He refused. “Freedom of speech,” he said.

Now the DSS is asking the court to make him answer for it.

The trigger of the revocation and ordered arrest: Empty defendant’s dock.

Court resumed for trial. No Sowore. No lawyer. Again.

Last December, Justice Mohammed Garba Umar gave him bail on “self-recognition” — basically his word that he’d show up.

The DSS counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, wanted an arrest warrant then. The judge said:  “no”.

Tuesday was different. Prosecution didn’t blink. “Delay tactics,” they told the court.

Prosecution requested two things: revoke the bail. Issue a bench warrant.

Justice Umar granted both.

The order:

1. Sowore’s bail is revoked. Effective immediately.
2. Bench warrant issued for his arrest.
3. When arrested, he goes straight to Kuje Correctional Centre.
4. He’ll be brought back June 22, 2026 for ruling on his own application — the one asking the judge to step down for “bias.”

Backstory:

Last month the judge threw out Sowore’s “no-case submission.”

He ruled the DSS had made a prima facie case.

That didn’t sit well with Sowore’s team. They accused Justice Umar of bias and filed to have him recuse himself.

The judge said he’ll rule on that… if Sowore appears.

But Sowore didn’t appear. And in court, absence has consequences.

So now the cat-and-mouse game escalates.

The man who built his brand on defiance and “never backing down” is officially a wanted man — at least until he walks back into that courtroom.

Kuje Correctional Centre is on standby. June 22 is the next date.

Question is: will Sowore show up on his terms, or will the DSS bring him in theirs?

Answer to this poser lies in the womb of time.