The Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, has asked the court for a bench warrant to arrest the founder and publisher of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, Fisayo Soyombo, over a 12-count cyberstalking case filed by the senior special assistant on sustainable development goals (SSAP-SDGs) to the president, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire.

Mr Soyombo is the second defendant in the case against the IGP. 

While a reporter with FIJ, Daniel Ojukwu, was remanded in prison on Tuesday until December 1 over the 12-count cyberstalking suit, Ms Orelope-Adefulire asked a Federal High Court,  Abuja Division, for a bench warrant to arrest Mr Soyombo. 

The prosecuting team, represented by Kunle Lawal, Tolulope Osho, Grace Baiyeshea and Marvellous Orji, informed the court on Tuesday that serving Mr Soyombo had been difficult, so a warrant should be issued against him.

But Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, who presided over the matter and remanded Mr Ojukwu, rejected the arrest warrant request for Mr Soyombo, noting that since he had not been brought before the court previously, issuing a bench warrant was impossible.

The lead counsel to the defendants, Messrs Soyombo and Ojukwu, Oluseye Ayo Moore, said, “Now, the law is that for a bench warrant to be issued, the defendant must have been brought before the court.” 

“When the issue was raised by the prosecutor, the court, in its wisdom, asked whether the second defendant had been brought before the court. The answer was no. So, the court said that, on that ground, a bench warrant could not be issued against a defendant who had not been brought before the court.”