Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS) on Tuesday filed a five-count charge against social media platform, X (formerly Twitter) and social activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, Comrade Omoyele Sowore over posts the DSS said was critical against Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The suite filed at a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja is dated 16th September,2025.
The DSS had earlier written Comrade Sowore urging him to pull down the posts, a request the activist refused.
Earlier, X had written Sowore informing him of the a request from the Nigerian government demanding that his post be pulled down.
The X letter read:
“Hello @YeleSowore. In the interest of transparency, we are writing to inform you that X has received a request from the Department of State Services regarding your X account, @YeleSowore, that claims the following content violates the law(s) of Nigeria. @YeleSowore, we have not taken any action on the reported content at this time as a result of this request.
“As X strongly believes in defending and respecting the voice of our users, it is our policy to notify our users if we receive a legal request from an authorised entity (such as law enforcement or a government agency) to remove content from their account. We provide notice whether or not the user lives in the country where the request originated. This page provides more information
“We understand that receiving this type of notice can be an unsettling experience. While X is not able to provide legal advice, we want you to have an opportunity to evaluate the request and, if you wish, take appropriate action to protect your interests.
“This may include seeking legal counsel and challenging the request in court, contacting relevant civil society organisations, voluntarily deleting the content (if applicable), or finding some other resolution.”
“For more information on legal requests X receives from governments worldwide, please refer to this article on our Help Centre and our biannual Transparency Report.”
Responding, Sowore while alerting the public on the move of the Nigerian government vowed never to delete the post. According to a post he made on social median, the activist acknowledged receiving a mail from X. “This morning, X (formerly Twitter) officially contacted me about the despicable threat letter they received from the lawless DSS over my Tweet on Tinubu. One option I will NOT be taking is deleting that Tweet. Thank you, @X”
The charges were filed before the court on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the DSS by M.B. Abubakar, Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, alongside four other counsel to the DSS –M.E. Ernest, U.B. Bulla, Dr. C.S. Eze, and E.G. Orubor.
Speaking on the suit, Sowore wo was the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in a Facebook post on Tuesday wrote, “The State Security Service, alias @OfficialDSSNG today filed a 5-count charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja against ‘X’ (formerly Twitter Facebook, and myself. They claimed that because I called Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu a criminal, I have somehow committed a set of ‘novel’ offences they invented and spread across five counts
“It’s hard to believe there’s anyone sensible left in these offices that should be making Nigeria work. Regardless, I will be present whenever this case is assigned for trial. #RevolutionNow.”
