Human rights activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore said despite recent attempts by security agencies to restrict his social media accounts, he will continue to criticise the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
In an X post on Sunday, Sowore vowed not to delete a tweet critical of President Tinubu, despite reports that the Department of State Services (DSS) had requested that the platform’s management remove it.
Instead, Sowore lashed out at the DSS, accusing the agency of suppressing dissent and free speech. He insisted that his criticisms of the Tinubu administration are protected under constitutionally guaranteed rights.
SPONSOR AD
At the weekend, the Federal Government gave X a 24-hour ultimatum to pull down Sowore’s anti-Tinubu post, in which he disparaged the president over his claim in Brazil that corruption in Nigeria had ended under his government.
Sowore had tweeted: “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!”
But the federal government, in a letter to the Chairman and CEO of X Corp. in Bastrop County, Texas, USA, said Sowore’s tweet was misleading and willful intention to further an ideology capable of serious harm, incitement to violence, cybercrime, hate speech, to discredit and disparage Tinubu.
In the letter by the Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS), the secret police gave the social media platform 24 hours to act, demanding the pulling down of the offending tweet, which it also claimed was capable of causing a threat to national security, creating tension and ridiculing Nigeria as a country in the comity of nations.
The letter, signed by B. Bamigboye for the Director General, DSS, asserted that Sowore’s tweet, apart from causing serious embarrassment to the person of President Tinubu, was capable of causing nationwide chaos.
The letter dated September 6, 2025, informed the X.com CEO that the tweet in question constitutes an offence under Section 51 of the Criminal Code Act Cap 77, which prohibits publication of false information; Section 19, 22, and 24 of the Cyber Crime Act 2025, which prohibits and makes it an offence to spread fake news or publishing content that is misleading or deceptive, posting content that is rude vulgar, offensive, with intent to humiliate others, provoke ethnic, religious and tribal hatred through online statement.
Besides, DSS in the letter said that such a tweet by Sowore makes the offender and the medium through which the offence was propagated culpable and criminally liable.
“The author and purveyor of the inflammatory online publication against Mr. President is very much aware that the publication is also prohibited by Section 2 of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022 and other relevant Laws of Nigeria.
“It is not in doubt that the words employed by Mr. Omoyele Sowore is misleading information, online harassment and abuse, willful intention of furthering an ideology capable of serious harm, hate speech, cause disunity, discredit the President of Nigeria within the comity of nations to damage the image of Nigeria and cause threat to National Security of the Country,” it said.
The DSS demanded that the X corporation must, as a matter of its own policy, pull down the tweet and its attendant retweet.
“This demand is unequivocal with its attendant consequences. Should you fail, neglect and refuse to comply with the command in this notice, the Federal Government of Nigeria will be compelled to take far-reaching, sweeping and across-the-board measures through our organisation, whose mandate covers such Criminal Act.
“In the light of the above, having been made official to you, 24 hours is sufficient to take necessary action,” the letter said.
At the time of this report, it could not be ascertained if the X has responded to Nigeria.
Sowore said X had formally contacted him about the DSS request.
Sowore said, “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,” Sowore wrote.
The activist also made public the message sent to him by X, which confirmed that the platform had received a legal request from the Nigerian secret police concerning his post.
The message 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.”
It continued: “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.
“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.”
The country’s security agencies have been accused by rights groups and opposition politicians of targeting dissenting voices and clamping down on free expression, especially under the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
It would be recalled that some social media platforms have a policy of notifying users when they receive legal demands from governments requesting the takedown of a certain content.
The Elon Musk platform, especially, had faced pressure in Nigeria before – most notably during the 2021 Twitter ban by the Federal Government, which accused the company of undermining national security after it deleted a tweet by then-President Muhammadu Buhari.
Experts said Sowore’s latest confrontation with the DSS brings to the fore the tension between government authorities and citizens’ digital rights, particularly regarding criticism of public officials online.
They said Sowore’s insistence on keeping the tweet online could spark renewed public debate on freedom of speech, government surveillance, and the limits of dissent in Nigeria’s democracy.
Though Alani Gilani Moyosore, a public affairs analyst, condemned Sowore’s use of the word “criminal” against the president, he chastised the DSS for asking X to delete his account.
Don’t yield to FG’s censorship demand, Amnesty urges X
Human Rights organisation, Amnesty International (AI), on Sunday urged the DSS to immediately withdraw its demand to X.
In the statement, AI noted that the Nigerian authorities’ demand for the deactivation of Sowore’s X account goes too far, and is outrageous, while clearly showing a desperate attempt at censorship and abuse of power.
It said, “The DSS targeting of Sowore’s X account is being done without any legal justification, as recognised under international human rights law and this represents a violation of Nigeria’s obligations under the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Nigeria has ratified both human rights treaties.
“Nigerian authorities must refrain from violating human rights online, including the rights to freedom of expression and privacy and fulfil their constitutional and international human rights obligations.
“On its part, X must not yield to censorship demands of the Nigerian government, through targeting the voices of activists, and must do all in its power to protect freedom of expression on its platform.”
