Following the 5-count lawsuit filed against the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, by the Department of State Services (DSS), over a social media post in which he described President Bola Tinubu as a “Criminal”, the activist has reacted to the suit by equally suing the DSS in the Federal High Court, Abuja.
New Telegraph had earlier reported that the Federal Government, in its charges marked FHC/ABJ/CR/481/2025, alleged that Sowore, using his verified X handle, @YeleSowore, wrote, “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!”
In the five-count charge filed on Tuesday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the Director of Public Prosecutions, M.B. Abubakar, named X (formerly Twitter) and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, as co-defendants alongside Sowore.
The Federal Government stated that Sowore’s August 25th post breached Section 24(2)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024.
In the charges, the Federal Government stressed that Sowore’s comments amount to offences punishable under Sections 24(1)(b) of the Act, as well as Sections 59 and 375 of the Criminal Code Act.
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According to them, the post was intended to generate public disorder and divisions amongst Nigerians, thereby defaming the President.
Hours after the Federal Government’s lawsuit, Sowore, in alliance with his lawyer, Tope Temokun, counter-sued, asking the court to restrict the DSS from directing social media platforms to delete his posts.
In a statement on Tuesday, Temokun said, “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; their voices will be silenced at the whim of those in power.”
He contended that silencing political criticism undermines democracy, pointing to Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, which upholds freedom of expression.
“No security agency, no matter how powerful, can suspend or delete those rights,” he said. “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.”
The suit seeks a declaration that the DSS lacks the authority to censor Nigerians on social media, that Meta and X must not permit their platforms to be used as instruments of repression, and that the rights of Sowore and other Nigerians be safeguarded against unlawful interference.
The statement continued, “We call on all lovers of freedom, journalists, human rights defenders, and the Nigerian people to stand firm. Today it is Sowore; tomorrow it may be you
“This struggle is not about personalities. It is about principle. And we shall resist every attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship.”
New Telegraph gathered that as of Tuesday, neither of the suits had been assigned to a judge.
