Activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has filed a counter-suit against the Department of State Services (DSS) after the Federal Government charged him over a social media post in which he described President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.”
The government, acting on the DSS’s request, had on Tuesday filed a five-count charge against Sowore before the Federal High Court in Abuja. The charges, also listed X (formerly Twitter) and Meta (owners of Facebook) as co-defendants.
Prosecutors alleged that Sowore, through his verified handle @YeleSowore, violated Section 24(2)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024, by posting:
“This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is no more corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!”.
The Federal Government insisted that the post, made on August 25 during Tinubu’s visit to Brazil, was “false, malicious, and inciting,” and capable of sparking public disorder while damaging the President’s reputation.
Following the post, the DSS had written to Sowore demanding that he delete the comments. It also petitioned Meta and X Corp., urging them to pull down the posts and deactivate his accounts.
Sowore, however, refused and instead counter-sued, describing the move as “unconstitutional censorship.” Through his lawyer, Tope Temokun, he urged the court to restrain the DSS from pressuring social media platforms to delete his posts.
“These suits were filed to challenge the unconstitutional censorship initiated by the DSS/SSS against Sowore’s accounts maintained with Meta and X.
“This is about the survival of free speech in Nigeria. If state agencies can dictate to global platforms who may speak and what may be said, then no Nigerian is safe”, Temokun said in a statement.
Citing Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, Sowore argued that censorship of political criticism was alien to democracy and warned that social media platforms risk becoming complicit in the suppression of liberty if they bow to unlawful directives.
The suit seeks declarations that the DSS lacks authority to censor Nigerians on social media, that Meta and X must not allow their platforms to be used for repression, and that Sowore’s constitutional rights, alongside those of other Nigerians, must be fully protected.
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