The lawyer further argued that since the defendant had submitted himself before the court, he could not be forced to take service of the 2nd and 3rd defendants.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fixed February 21, 2024 for ruling in the case of defamation and cyber-stalking suit filed by the FCT Commissioner of Police on behalf of Ned Nwoko against human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, and an online newspaper, SaharaReporters.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Thursday, Sowore’s counsel, Tope Temokun while arguing on the two applications filed on behalf of his client, described the service effected on his client who is the 1st defendant in the dock on 2nd June 2022 for the service of charge of SaharaReporters and SaharaReporters Media Group Limited as 2nd and 3rd respectively as defective, adding that such could not be proper in law.
He said the 1st defendant had told the court that he had resigned his position as Director and was no longer in charge of the operations of the 2nd and 3rd and that he had been before the court since 2019.
The lawyer further argued that since the defendant had submitted himself before the court, he could not be forced to take service of the 2nd and 3rd defendants.
Tope said the court had inherent powers to set aside the service on the ground that it was not valid.
He submitted that the complainant admitted that the 2nd defendant was not registered with the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission and that the 3rd defendant was resident in the United States of America.
He therefore asked the court to set aside its previous order mandating the service of charge of 2nd and 3rd on 1st defendant.
He also asked the court to quash the charge levelled against the 1st defendant and 2nd defendants.
Tope while addressing journalists after the court said “We also filed the application where we asked the court to quash some of the counts because the complainant conceded that SaharaReporters is resident in United States.”
He said bringing the responsibility and liability of an entity which resides in the United States to his client is unfair.
He submitted that before a plea is taken, an objection can be taken by the court and noted that the provisions of section 396 (2) had not taken away the rights of the defendant to object to the charge before the plea is taken.
Meanwhile in his own argument, the prosecution counsel, Edwin Inegbenoise urged the court to refuse the two applications filed by the defendant.
The judge therefore adjourned the matter to February 21, 2024, for ruling.