AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
The Department of State Services (DSS) has filed a five-count charge against former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, as well as social media giants X Corp and Meta Inc., over online posts deemed critical of President Bola Tinubu.
The suit, dated September 16, 2025, was lodged at the Federal High Court in Abuja following Sowore’s refusal to delete posts about the President.
The charges were filed on behalf of the DSS and the Federal Government by M.B. Abubakar, Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, alongside DSS counsel M.E. Ernest, U.B. Bulla, Dr. C.S. Eze, and E.G. Orubor.
Confirming the development on Facebook, Sowore wrote, “The State Security Service, alias @OfficialDSSNG, today filed a 5-count charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja against ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and myself.
They claimed that because I called Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu a criminal, I have somehow committed a set of ‘novel’ offences they invented and spread across five counts. Regardless, I will be present whenever this case is assigned for trial. #RevolutionNow.”
PUNCH Online had earlier reported that the human rights activist and African Action Congress (AAC) candidate in the 2023 elections vowed not to delete the controversial tweet, despite a formal request from the DSS to X demanding its removal.
Reaffirming his stance, Sowore revealed that X notified him of the DSS letter, which sought the deletion of his post.
He wrote:
“This morning, X (formerly Twitter) officially contacted me about the despicable threat letter they received from the lawless DSS over my Tweet on Tinubu. One option I will NOT be taking is deleting that Tweet. Thank you, @X.”
Sowore also shared the message sent to him by X, which confirmed receipt of the legal request. The notice read in part:
“Hello @YeleSowore. In the interest of transparency, we are writing to inform you that X has received a request from the Department of State Services regarding your account, @YeleSowore, that claims the following content violates the law(s) of Nigeria. We have not taken any action on the reported content at this time.”
X explained that, in line with its transparency policy, it informs users of government or law enforcement requests regardless of their country of residence.
The platform advised Sowore to seek legal counsel or explore other options, including contesting the request in court, contacting civil society groups, or voluntarily deleting the content.
The company further directed him to its Help Centre and Transparency Report for more details on how such legal requests are handled globally.
