The Department of State Services (DSS) has filed criminal charges against human rights activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Also named in the suit as the 2nd and 3rd defendants were X Corp (owners of the social media platform X) and Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook.
According to court documents filed on September 16, 2025, the DSS, acting through the Federal Ministry of Justice (FMOJ), entered a five-count charge against Sowore, accusing him of defaming President Bola Tinubu by labelling him a “criminal” in social media posts. The alleged statements were made via Sowore’s official X handle and Facebook page on August 25 and 26, 2025, during the president’s official visit to Brazil.
The charge sheet was filed by M.B. Abubakar, Esq., Director of Public Prosecutions at the FMOJ, together with M.E. Ernest, Esq., U.B. Bulla, Esq., C.S. Eze, and E.G. Orubor, Esq. as listed counsel.
The DSS listed the exhibits in support of its case to include; a printout of Sowore’s tweet on X,ma printout of his Facebook post and a letter addressed to X Corp.
Other exhibits were a letter addressed to Meta Platforms Inc., and Sowore’s subsequent posts responding to those letters.
As of Tuesday, the matter has not yet been assigned to any judge, and no date has been fixed for Sowore’s arraignment.
The case represents the latest escalation in tensions between the activist and Nigeria’s domestic intelligence agency.
LEADERSHIP reports that the DSS had earlier demanded that Sowore retract the posts, publish a public apology across national media, and issue a statement of retraction on X. Sowore, however, refused, insisting that his remarks were protected under freedom of expression.
The DSS, in turn, threatened to pursue the matter “within the ambit of the law,” leading to the current criminal charges.
