Omoyele Sowore countersues DSS at Federal High Court Abuja after FG filed cybercrime charges over his Tinubu social media post.
The Federal Government has filed criminal charges against activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, over a social media post in which he described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a “criminal.”
The charges, filed at the instance of the Department of State Services (DSS), were entered on Tuesday before the Federal High Court in Abuja. In suit number FHC/ABJ/CR/481/2025, the Federal Government, through the Director of Public Prosecutions at the Ministry of Justice, M. B. Abubakar, accused Sowore of contravening provisions of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024. Social media giants X (formerly Twitter) and Meta (owners of Facebook) were also listed as co-defendants.
The charges stem from a post Sowore made on his verified X handle, @YeleSowore, on August 25, criticizing Tinubu during his official visit to Brazil. Sowore had written:
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!
But Sowore rejected the demand, insisting that his comments were legitimate criticism.
No amount of pressure will make me retract my comments,” he said, describing his criticism of Tinubu as part of his constitutional duty to hold leaders accountable.
In a swift response, Sowore, through his lawyer Tope Temokun, filed a counter-suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday. He asked the court to restrain the DSS from directing social media companies to censor or 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,” 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
Citing Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, Temokun argued that freedom of expression cannot be suspended or curtailed by any security agency.
Meta and X must also understand this: when they bow to unlawful censorship demands, they become complicit in the suppression of liberty. They cannot hide behind neutrality while authoritarianism is exported onto their platforms,” he added.
The counter-suit seeks declarations that the DSS lacks authority to censor Nigerians on social media, that Meta and X must not be used as tools of repression, and that Sowore’s rights—alongside those of other Nigerians—be fully protected against unlawful interference.
Today it is Sowore; tomorrow it may be you,” Temokun warned. “This struggle is not about personalities. It is about principle. And we shall resist every attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship.”
(PUNCH)
Edited by Aremu Toyeebaht
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