Sowore bail is gone. A Federal High Court judge in Abuja cancelled it on Tuesday and issued a warrant for the activist’s arrest after he missed his scheduled cybercrime hearing on 16 June 2026.
The decision to revoke Sowore Bail marks a significant escalation in the cybercrime proceedings that have drawn national attention since late 2025.
Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja signed the bench warrant and directed that Sowore be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre when he appears on the next adjourned date, 22 June 2026, according to Premium Times.
Sowore bail was revoked at the request of the Department of State Services (DSS) prosecution team, led by Kehinde Akinlolu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who told the court that the defendant had been aware of the hearing yet chose not to attend.
The court had received a written letter from Sowore requesting an adjournment. But Justice Umar ruled that the letter gave no cogent reason for his absence and granted the prosecution’s application to withdraw his bail, the Telegraph Nigeria reported. Sowore Bail ruling quickly generated interest among followers and political observers because of the activist vocal on social and political issues.
The case has been adjourned to 22 June for ruling on Sowore’s application seeking the judge’s recusal from the proceedings.
Two versions of the same day
The revocation immediately produced two sharply different accounts of what happened.
The prosecution argued that Sowore had been given due notice and that his continued absence amounted to deliberate delay, Channels Television reported.
Sowore, posting on X shortly after the ruling, told a different story. He said he and his legal team had been present at the court on Monday, 15 June, the date he says the matter was originally fixed, only to wait more than three hours before being told by the registry that the court would not be sitting.
“I was in the court on the 15th day of June 2026 from 8.20 a.m. until I was told by the registry that the court would not be sitting at about 11.57 a.m. without any reason advanced or prior notification given,” Sowore wrote in a letter addressed to the Deputy Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court, a copy of which was obtained by Sahara Reporters.
Sahara Reporters independently confirmed that the matter did come up before the court on Monday and that Justice Umar did not sit on the case that day. Questions surrounding the Sowore Bail proceedings intensified after reports emerged that the judge did not sit on the date Sowore claims he attended court.
Following the court’s failure to sit, Sowore wrote to the Deputy Chief Registrar, copied to the prosecution, formally requesting that the matter be fixed for ruling on any convenient date in July or September.
Rather than waiting for a response to that adjournment request, Justice Umar took up the case on Tuesday, the date set by the court’s own registry after Monday’s non-sitting and revoked the bail in Sowore’s absence.
Sowore accused the judge of using the Sowore bail revocation to assert control over the case at a moment when a pending recusal application challenged his continued role in the proceedings.
“Instead, he opted to revoke my bail in a bid to assert forceful control over the trial. I will confront these developments with determination and resilience. This was all planned but it shall not prevail,” Sowore wrote on X.
Conflicting accounts surrounding the Sowore Bail decision have since sparked debate over the handling of the case and the circumstances leading to the court’s ruling.
Why Sowore had no lawyer in court
A key background detail helps explain why Sowore appeared without legal representation.
His legal team, led by Marshal Abubakar, withdrew from the case in early June 2026 after Sowore told the court his lawyers had informed him they were afraid to appear before the judge following what he described as humiliating treatment during earlier proceedings, PM News reported.
My lawyers indicated to me that they are afraid to appear before you and will no longer appear because of the humiliation they suffered before this court,” Sowore told Justice Umar on 5 June when he moved to represent himself temporarily.
Sowore was in Lagos seeking new legal representation at the time of Tuesday’s hearing, which formed the stated basis of his adjournment request.
The charges and the case history
Sowore faces a two-count charge under Sections 24(1)(b) and 24(2)(a), (b) and (c) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024. He was first arraigned on 2 December 2025, in charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, and pleaded not guilty.
The DSS alleges that in August 2025, Sowore posted messages on his X and Facebook accounts describing President Bola Tinubu as “a criminal.” The prosecution says the posts were designed to cause a breakdown of public order and damage the president’s reputation, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
In May 2026, Justice Umar dismissed Sowore’s no-case submission and ordered him to open his defence, ruling that the prosecution had established a prima facie case of cyberbullying, Sahara Reporters reported.
It was immediately after that ruling that Sowore asked the judge to step down, citing bias and the treatment of his legal team, and filed a formal motion on notice for recusal on 4 June 2026. The growing Sowore Bail dispute has further focused attention on the unresolved recusal application and the future direction of the trial.
Legal observers note that the Sowore Bail controversy now intersects with broader questions about judicial impartiality and the pending recusal application.
The court had fixed Monday, 15 June, for ruling on that recusal application. That ruling has yet to be delivered.
A familiar pattern for Sowore
Tuesday’s Sowore bail revocation is not the first time a Nigerian court has taken this step against the activist.
In December 2019, Sowore was re-arrested inside a courtroom shortly after being released on bail in a separate treason case, a moment that drew significant international attention, Historical Nigeria noted. The federal government eventually withdrew those treasonable felony charges in February 2024, and the Federal High Court discharged him and his co-defendant.
The current prosecution represents a new legal front opened following his social media posts in August 2025.
Sowore bail and the recusal motion now sit before the same judge Sowore has accused of bias, with June 22 fast approaching.
If he is not arrested before then, he is expected to appear in court that day. If he is picked up, he will be brought in custody. Either way, Justice Umar will decide whether he remains on the case at all.
