……as Sowore begs Court to stop Meta, X from deleting his anti ‘Tinubu a criminal’ comment
The Department of State Services (DSS) has filed a five-count charge at the Federal High Court, Abuja, against the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore.
It listed X Corp and Meta Inc. (Facebook) as defendants.
A Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Muhammed Abubakar, as well as other lawyers for the DSS, filed the charges on behalf of the agency and the Nigerian government.
The DSS had on September 8, handed Sowore a one-week ultimatum to delete what it described as a ‘false, malicious, and inciting’ social media post about President Bola Tinubu.
The ultimatum expired on Monday without Sowore deleting the posts on President Tinubu.
Also, the social media companies, X Corp and Meta Incorporation who own X and Facebook, failed to oblige a demand by the DSS to delete Sowore’s account’
The charges read, “That you, Omoyele Sowore, adult, male on or about the 25th day of August, 2025, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did use your official X Handle page, @Yele Sowore, to send out a message/ tweet as: ‘THIS CRIMINAL @ OFFICIAL PBAT ACTUALLY WENT TO BRAZIL TO STATE THAT THERE IS NO MORE CORRUPTION UNDER HIS REGIME IN NIGERIA. WHAT AUDACITY TO LIE SHAMELESSLY!’, which you know the said message to be false but posted it for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in the country, especially among individuals who hold divergent views on the personality of the President and Commander- in- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 24 (1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024.”
Charge Two read, “That you, Omoyele Sowore, adult male on or about the 26th day of August, 2025, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did use your official Facebook page, Omoyele Sowore, to send out a message/ post as: ‘THIS CRIMINAL @ OFFICIAL PBAT ACTUALLY WENT TO BRAZIL TO STATE THAT THERE IS NO MORE CORRUPTION UNDER HIS REGIME IN NIGERIA. WHAT AUDACITY TO LIE SHAMELESSLY!’, which you know the said message/post to be false but posted it for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in the country, especially among individuals who hold divergent views on the personality of the President and Commander- in- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 24 (1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024.”
Count three, “That you, Omoyele Sowore, adult, male on or about the 25th day of August, 2025, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, using the instrumentality of X, via your official X account @Yele Sowore, did knowingly published defamatory material on your online platform viz: ‘THIS CRIMINAL @ OFFICIAL PBAT ACTUALLY WENT TO BRAZIL TO STATE THAT THERE IS NO MORE CORRUPTION UNDER HIS REGIME IN NIGERIA. WHAT AUDACITY TO LIE SHAMELESSLY!’, against the personality and reputation of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR), and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 375 of the Criminal Code Act.
Count four reads, “That you, Omoyele Sowore, adult, male on or about the 26th day of August, 2025, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, using the instrumentality of Facebook, via your official Facebook account Omoyele Sowore, did knowingly published defamatory material on your online platform viz: ‘THIS CRIMINAL @ OFFICIAL PBAT ACTUALLY WENT TO BRAZIL TO STATE THAT THERE IS NO MORE CORRUPTION UNDER HIS REGIME IN NIGERIA. WHAT AUDACITY TO LIE SHAMELESSLY!’, against the personality and reputation of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR), and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 375 of the Criminal Code Act.
The fifth and the last count read, “That you, Omoyele Sowore, adult, male on or about the 26th day of August, 2025, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to cause public fear and disturbance, published false information on your official X and Facebook account @Yele Sowore, respectively, against the personality and reputation of the President and Commander- in- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 59 of the Criminal Code Act and punishable under the same Act.”
Meanwhile, Sowore said he will be available whenever the case is assigned for trial.
Sowore sues DSS, Meta, X over alleged rights violations
Also, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 election, Omoyele Sowore, has filed two fundamental rights actions at the Federal High Court, Abuja, against the Department for State Services (DSS), social media giants Meta (Facebook) and X Corp.
According to a statement released by his legal team on Tuesday and signed by Tope Temokun, the lawsuits were filed to challenge what the lawyers described as ‘unconstitutional censorship’ against Sowore’s accounts maintained with Meta and X.
According to Sowore’s legal counsel, the lawsuit is about the survival of free speech in Nigeria, adding that “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 whims of those in power.”
“Censorship of political criticism is alien to democracy. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in Section 39, guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of expression, without interference. No security agency, no matter how powerful, can suspend or delete those rights.”
Sowore’s legal counsels added that Meta and X must also understand that when they bow to unlawful censorship demands, they become complicit in the suppression of the struggle for liberty. According to the lawyers
“They cannot hide behind neutrality while authoritarianism is exported onto their platforms.”
Among the prayers of Sowore’s legal counsels before the court include
‘’That the DSS has no power in law to censor Nigerians on social media; That Meta and X must not lend their platforms as tools of repression; and
That our client’s rights and by extension, the rights of all Nigerians, be fully protected against unlawful censorship.
We call on all lovers of freedom, journalists, human rights defenders, and the Nigerian people to stand firm. Today it is @YeleSowore ; 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,” the statement concluded.
