Ex-presidential candidate and activist, Omoleye Sowore, has sued social media platform Meta (Facebook), X (formerly Twitter) and the Department of State Services (DSS) over human rights violations and unconstitutional censorship. This comes barely hours after the DSS filed charges against Sowore and the social media platforms.
In a statement released on Tuesday by Sowore’s legal team, signed by Tope Temokun, the lawsuit was filed to challenge the suppression of speech against his Facebook and X accounts. Recall that the DSS has ordered both platforms to suspend Sowore’s account with claims that he misused his freedom of speech on President Bola Tinubu.
The legal team described the lawsuit as an attempt to fight for the survival of free speech in Nigeria. While the Nigerian constitution made provision for Freedom of Speech, the legal team noted that no security agency has the authority to overstep the right or suppress the act of democracy.
“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,” it added.
Experts have earlier explained the ongoing issue with Sowore, DSS, X and Meta as a long fight that has no clear end.
In an earlier court document filed on Tuesday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the DSS named Sowore, X and Meta’s Facebook as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants respectively. In the suit, the DCC entered a five-count charge against Sowore surrounding claims that he labelled President Bola Tinubu as ‘criminal’ in a post on social media.
According to the document, the statements were made on Sowore’s X handle and Facebook page on August 25 and 26, 2025, during the President’s official visit to Brazil.
Explicitly, the DSS stated that he posted on his social media with the description, “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.” The DSS noted that, with the statement, Sowore committed an offence contrary to Section 24 (1) (b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) and Amendment Act, 2024.
Read More: DSS drags Meta and X to court over Sowore’s anti-Tinubu post.
Sowore’s legal team on censorship moves by X and Meta
In another stunt, Sowore’s legal team is also challenging both social media platforms to make moves to act on DSS’s orders. According to them, Meta and X must understand why they dance to the tune of unlawful censorship demands; they become a part of those who lead the suppression of the struggle for liberty.
“They cannot hide behind neutrality while authoritarianism is exported onto their platforms,” it said.
The legal team is standing on the grounds that Meta and X must make their platforms available for users to exercise their rights and not be a tool of suppression.
The suits submitted before the court are:
1. 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
2. That our client’s rights and by extension, the rights of all Nigerians, be fully protected against unlawful censorship.
The legal team also called on the support of every Nigerian, Journalists, and Activists to stand behind Sowore and for democracy. It noted that the struggle is not about personalities but about principles.
“We shall resist every attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship,” the statement concluded.
