Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 elections, has taken legal action against the Department of State Services (DSS) and social media giants Meta (Facebook) and X Corp.
He filed two fundamental rights enforcement suits before the Federal High Court in Abuja, accusing the security agency and the platforms of engaging in unconstitutional censorship.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by his legal counsel, Tope Temokun, Sowore’s legal team said the cases were initiated to safeguard the constitutional right to free speech. Temokun argued that if security agencies can influence global platforms on who can speak and what may be said, then the rights of Nigerians face serious danger.
“The issue here is about the survival of free speech in Nigeria,” Temokun noted, stressing that censorship of political dissent contradicts democratic principles. He recalled that Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and warned that no government agency has the authority to suspend or erase those rights.
The statement further faulted Meta and X for allegedly complying with state-driven censorship. Sowore’s lawyers contended that when technology companies submit to unlawful demands, they contribute to silencing the struggle for liberty. “They cannot hide behind neutrality while authoritarianism is exported onto their platforms,” the legal team stated.
Among the reliefs sought, Sowore’s team asked the court to declare that the DSS has no legal authority to censor Nigerians on social media, that Meta and X must not serve as instruments of repression, and that their client’s rights—alongside those of all citizens—should be protected against unlawful interference.
The lawyers also appealed to Nigerians to defend free speech, stressing that “today it is @YeleSowore; tomorrow it may be you.” According to them, the battle is not about personality but principle, and every effort to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship must be resisted.
Sowore’s suits were filed just hours after the DSS lodged a five-count criminal charge against him at the same Federal High Court. Notably, the security agency also listed Meta and X Corp as defendants.
The charges were signed by Muhammed Abubakar, a Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, alongside other counsel representing the DSS and the federal government.
Earlier, on September 8, the DSS had issued Sowore a one-week ultimatum to take down what it described as “false, malicious, and inciting” posts about President Bola Tinubu. The ultimatum expired on Monday without compliance. Despite the pressure, Meta and X refused to deactivate Sowore’s accounts or delete the content flagged by the DSS.
What you should know
Omoyele Sowore’s lawsuit against the DSS, Meta, and X underscores a growing clash between free speech rights and government attempts to regulate digital platforms in Nigeria.
While the DSS accuses him of spreading inciting posts about President Tinubu, Sowore insists the case is about protecting Nigerians from creeping digital authoritarianism.
