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The Federal Government has filed criminal charges against activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, over a social media post in which he referred to President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.” The case, instituted at the instance of the Department of State Services (DSS), was filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday.
Court filings marked FHC/ABJ/CR/481/2025 show that the charges were prepared by the Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, M. B. Abubakar. The government also listed X (formerly Twitter) and Meta (owners of Facebook) as co-defendants in the matter.
According to the Federal Government, Sowore, on August 25, used his verified X handle, @YeleSowore, to post: “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!”
The government alleged that the post contravened Section 24(2)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024. It also said Sowore’s comments constituted offences punishable under Sections 24(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes Act, as well as Sections 59 and 375 of the Criminal Code Act.
In its filings, the government maintained that the activist’s comments were designed to incite public disorder, inflame divisions among Nigerians with opposing political views, and damage the reputation of the President.
The DSS had earlier written to Sowore, demanding he delete what it described as “false, malicious, and inciting” posts made during Tinubu’s visit to Brazil, where the President had stated that corruption was no longer prevalent in Nigeria. The security agency warned that failure to comply would result in legal action to “protect national security and public order.”
The DSS also petitioned Meta and X Corp., asking them to delete Sowore’s posts and deactivate his accounts. Sowore, however, refused to comply, insisting that no amount of pressure would make him retract his criticism of the government. He said his role as an activist was to hold leaders accountable.
Hours after the Federal Government filed the charges, Sowore responded by filing a separate suit through his lawyer, Tope Temokun, at the Federal High Court in Abuja. The suit challenges what he described as unconstitutional censorship of his social media accounts by the DSS.
Temokun, in a statement on Tuesday, said the counter-suit was aimed at defending free speech in Nigeria. “These suits were filed to challenge the unconstitutional censorship initiated by the DSS against Sowore’s accounts maintained with Meta and X,” he said. “This is about the survival of free speech in Nigeria. 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 whim of those in power.”
Citing Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, Temokun argued that freedom of expression is a guaranteed right that no security agency has the power to suspend. He also called on Meta and X not to bow to what he described as “unlawful censorship demands.”
“Meta and X must also understand this: when they bow to unlawful censorship demands, they become complicit in the suppression of liberty. They cannot hide behind neutrality while authoritarianism is exported onto their platforms,” he said.
The suit seeks several declarations, including that the DSS has no authority to censor Nigerians on social media, that Meta and X must not use their platforms as tools of repression, and that Sowore’s rights—as well as those of other Nigerians—should be protected from unlawful interference.
The activist’s camp also issued a broader call to Nigerians to resist any attempt to curtail democratic freedoms. “We call on all lovers of freedom, journalists, human rights defenders, and the Nigerian people to stand firm. Today it is Sowore; tomorrow it may be you. This struggle is not about personalities. It is about principle. And we shall resist every attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship,” the statement said.
As of Tuesday evening, neither the Federal Government’s case nor Sowore’s counter-suit had been assigned to a judge. Legal analysts say the matter could test the limits of free speech, online expression, and government regulation in Nigeria’s democracy.
