The Department of State Services (DSS) has filed a five-count charge against former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore, alongside social media platforms X Corp and Meta Incorporation, over posts critical of President Bola Tinubu.
The complaint, filed on September 16, 2025, at the Federal High Court in Abuja, alleges that Sowore refused to erase specific posts about the President.
M.B. Abubakar, Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, presented the charges on behalf of the DSS and the Federal Government, together with four other DSS counsel: M.E. Ernest, U.B. Bulla, Dr. C.S. Eze, and E.G. Orubor.
Confirming the development in a Facebook post on Tuesday, Sowore wrote, “The State Security Service, alias @OfficialDSSNG, today filed a 5-count charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja against ‘X’ (formerly Twitter and Facebook) and myself. They claimed that because I called Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu a criminal, I have somehow committed a set of ‘novel’ offenses 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.”
Chronicle NG had earlier reported that the human rights activist and African Action Congress candidate in the 2023 election vowed not to delete the controversial tweet, despite a request from the DSS to X demanding its removal.
Maintaining his stance, Sowore wrote, “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.”
He also shared the message provided to him by X, which revealed that the platform had received a legal request from the DSS regarding his post.
The message from X 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 authorized 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 organizations, 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 Center and our biannual Transparency Report.”
