On Tuesday, the Federal Government, acting at the Department of State Services’ request, filed criminal charges against an activist and former African Action Congress presidential candidate for calling President Bola Tinubu a “criminal” in a social media post.
In response, Sowore, who mocked the accusations, filed a lawsuit against the DSS in the Federal High Court in Abuja, arguing that the restriction of his social media accounts was unlawful.
By using his verified X account, @YeleSowore, Sowore wrote: “This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is no more corruption under his regime in Nigeria,” according to the Federal Government’s allegations, which were designated FHC/ABJ/CR/481/2025. How daring of you to openly lie!
The Federal Government also named X (previously Twitter) and Meta (owners of Facebook) as co-defendants alongside Sowore in the five charges that were submitted to the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday by M. B. Abubakar, the Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice.
Sowore’s August 25 post, according to the Federal Government, violated Section 24(2)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024.
Sowore’s posts during Tinubu’s trip to Brazil, where the president asserted that his administration had eradicated corruption, were the basis for the prosecution.
The DSS then sent Sowore a letter requesting that he remove the “false, malicious, and inciting” messages and threatening to take legal action “to protect national security and public order” if he didn’t comply.
Additionally, the agency petitioned X Corp. and Meta to deactivate Sowore’s accounts and remove the posts.
But Sowore refused, stating that he would not take back his remarks under any circumstances.
He insisted that he had a constitutional obligation to hold the administration responsible, which included criticising it.
However, the Federal Government said in the accusations that Sowore’s remarks amounted to violations punishable by Sections 59 and 375 of the Criminal Code Act, as well as Section 24(1)(b) of the Act.
According to the agency, the post was meant to cause public unrest, exacerbate tensions between Nigerians who hold different political opinions, and harm the president’s reputation.
However, Sowore filed a countersuit through his attorney, Tope Temokun, hours after the Federal Government filed the accusations on Tuesday. He asked the court to stop the DSS from ordering social media companies to remove his tweets, including ones in which he referred to Tinubu as a “criminal.”
Temokun stated in a statement on Tuesday that the lawsuits were brought in order to contest the DSS/SSS’s unconstitutional suppression of Sowore’s accounts with Meta and X.
This concerns Nigeria’s ability to maintain free expression. No Nigerian is safe if state agencies have the authority to prescribe on international forums who can talk and what can be said; their voices would be muted at the whim of those in authority.
He used Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, which protects freedom of expression, to support his claim that censoring political criticism is incompatible with democracy.
He asserted that “no security agency, no matter how strong, can suspend or delete those rights.” “Meta and X must also realise that they are participants in the repression of liberty when they give in to illegal requests for censorship. As authoritarianism is imported onto their platforms, they are unable to conceal themselves under neutrality.
The lawsuit requests declarations that Sowore’s rights—as well as the rights of other Nigerians—must be completely shielded from illegal intervention, that Meta and X must refrain from permitting their platforms to be used as instruments of repression, and that the DSS lacks the ability to censor Nigerians on social media.
“We urge the Nigerian people, journalists, human rights advocates, and all freedom-lovers to remain steadfast. The statement read, “Today it’s Sowore; tomorrow it might be you.” Personalities are not at the centre of this conflict. It has to do with principle. And we will fight against any effort to establish a digital dictatorship in Nigeria.
Neither complaint had been assigned to a judge as of Tuesday.
