BREAKING: Judge Who Ordered Sowore’s Lawyer To Kneel Fails To Deliver Judgment In Fundamental Rights Suit Against DSS, Others

In the suit, Sowore challenges the DSS’s unconstitutional censorship of social media accounts maintained with Meta and X.

Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday failed to deliver judgment in a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by activist and publisher, Omoyele Sowore, against the Department of State Services (DSS), Meta (owners of Facebook), X Corp. (formerly Twitter), and the Attorney General of the Federation.

In the suit, Sowore challenges the DSS’s unconstitutional censorship of social media accounts maintained with Meta and X.

The case, scheduled for judgment on March 24, 2026, could not proceed as the judge was absent from court, with no prior notice given to parties involved.

According to Michael Effiwatt, counsel representing Sowore, lawyers and litigants were informed upon arrival that the court would not be sitting.

No explanation was provided for the judge’s absence, and a new date for judgment has yet to be fixed.

Court officials told parties that a new date for judgment would be communicated in due course.

Justice Umar, who presides over Court 4, is also handling an ongoing criminal trial involving Sowore, for calling President Bola Ahmed Tinubu a criminal.

“Upon arrival in court, counsel and parties were informed by the court clerk that the court would not be sitting. No prior notice was given regarding this development,” the lawyer said.

It remains unclear whether the judge’s absence is connected to the growing controversy surrounding earlier proceedings in this matter, including an unprecedented directive ordering one of Mr. Sowore’s lawyers, Barrister Marshal Abubakar, to kneel for insisting on the right to cross-examine a DSS witness.

SaharaReporters previously reported that Justice Umar on Monday, March 16, lost his temper during proceedings in Sowore’s trial, initiated by DSS for calling President Tinubu a criminal.

The tension began after Sowore’s legal team asked for a longer adjournment following the prosecution’s claim that it had closed its case. The request appeared to irritate the judge.

During the proceedings, Sowore told the court that he would continue to travel across Nigeria to mobilise against President Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general election.

Lead prosecutor Adeolu Kehinde, SAN, quickly moved to interrupt him.

At that point, Sowore’s lead counsel, Abubakar, rose to speak.

In an emotional intervention, the fiery young lawyer argued passionately that Nigeria’s future depended on the kind of progressive, leftist ideas Sowore represents, and suggested that the Federal Government was determined to send him to prison in order to shut him down and prevent him from participating in the upcoming elections.

Justice Umar, who had repeatedly indicated that he did not want further argument from Abubakar, then lost his cool and ordered the lawyer to step forward and kneel down as punishment for what he considered ‘contempt of court.’

But Abubakar refused and told the judge in muffled but persistent tone that kneeling down before a judge was unknown to Nigerian law and could not be imposed as a lawful punishment.

His response drew immediate concern in the courtroom, with several lawyers rising to appeal to the judge to calm down.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has since criticised the judge’s action, describing it as unlawful and inconsistent with judicial standards.

NBA President, Afam Osigwe (SAN) said the association viewed the development “with utmost seriousness,” citing its implications for the dignity of the legal profession and the integrity of the judiciary.

Also, the Uganda Law Society (ULS) declared solidarity with the NBA over the controversial directive by Justice Umar.

In a letter dated March 18, 2026, signed by its President, Isaac Ssemakadde, the Law Society criticised the action of the judge, insisting that no judge has the authority to subject a legal practitioner to such treatment.

“No judge possesses the lawful power to order a legal practitioner to kneel. That directive by Justice Mohammed Umar was not discipline; it was humiliation,” Ssemakadde said.

The Ugandan bar leader said the incident represented a dangerous abuse of judicial authority and an affront to due process.

Ssemakadde further warned that the incident in Nigeria reflects a broader pattern of judicial overreach across African countries, particularly in former British colonies.

“This is not a Nigerian aberration. It is a continental epidemic… From Kampala to Nairobi, Accra to Freetown, we witness the same pattern: arrogant benches, bullying rhetoric, forced genuflection disguised as decorum,” he said.

He criticised what he described as the continued use of outdated colonial-era legal doctrines to suppress dissent within the legal profession.

“Colonial humiliation did not end with the flag; it merely changed costume,” he stated.

The ULS president also revealed his personal ordeal with the Ugandan judiciary, stating that he was convicted and sentenced in absentia for refusing to comply with a similar directive.

“Last year… I was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison in absentia… My actual offence was refusing to kneel and apologise as directed by the Chief Justice,” he said.

According to him, the situation forced him into exile, with multiple arrest warrants and investigations allegedly used to intimidate and silence him.

“With nearly 17 arrest warrants and investigations targeting me… I was forced to close my practice and live outside Uganda as a fugitive. Without exile, I would be imprisoned,” Ssemakadde added.