The Federal Government, acting on behalf of the Department of State Services, DSS, on Tuesday filed criminal charges against activist and African Action Congress presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, over a social media post in which he described President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.”
The charges, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/481/2025, were filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja by the Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, M. B. Abubakar.
According to the government, Sowore, through his verified X account, @YeleSowore, wrote on August 25: “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 government alleged that the post contravened Section 24(2)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024, as well as Sections 59 and 375 of the Criminal Code Act.
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The DSS said the post was intended to incite public disorder, inflame divisions among Nigerians with opposing political views, and damage the reputation of the President.
Court filings showed that the Federal Government also listed X Corp. and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, as co-defendants alongside Sowore, demanding they take down the post and restrict his accounts.
The DSS had earlier written to Sowore, warning him to delete what it described as “false, malicious, and inciting” messages or face legal action to “protect national security and public order.”
In addition, the DSS petitioned Meta and X Corp., urging them to remove the posts and deactivate Sowore’s accounts.
However, the activist refused, maintaining that no amount of pressure would make him retract his comments.
Hours after the charges were filed, Sowore, through his lawyer, Tope Temokun, responded by filing a countersuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja against the DSS.
In his suit, Sowore sought declarations that the DSS had no authority to censor his social media content, and that Meta and X must not allow their platforms to be used as tools of government repression.
“These suits were filed to challenge the unconstitutional censorship initiated by the DSS/SSS against Sowore’s accounts maintained with Meta and X,” Temokun said in a statement.
“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; their voices will be silenced at the whim of those in power,” he added.
He further argued that censorship of political criticism was alien to democracy, citing Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.
“No security agency, no matter how powerful, can suspend or delete those rights,” he said.
The suit also seeks orders preventing Meta and X from complying with DSS directives, while affirming that Nigerians’ rights to free speech must be safeguarded against unlawful interference.
As of Tuesday evening, neither the Federal Government’s case nor Sowore’s countersuit had been assigned to a judge for hearing.
