DSS Files Five Count Charge Against Sowore, X, Meta

The Department of State Services has filed a five-count charge against former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore, alongside social media platforms X Corp and Meta Incorporation, over posts critical of President Bola Tinubu.

The suit dated 16th September,2025, was lodged at the Federal High Court in Abuja after Sowore allegedly refused to delete certain posts about the President.

The charges were brought on behalf of the DSS and the Federal Government by M.B. Abubakar, Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, alongside four other counsel to the DSS –M.E. Ernest, U.B. Bulla, Dr. C.S. Eze, and E.G. Orubor.

Confirming the development in a Facebook post on Tuesday , Sowore wrote, “The State Security Service, alias @OfficialDSSNG today filed a 5-count charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja against ‘X’ (formerly Twitter Facebook, and myself. They claimed that because I called Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu a criminal, I have somehow committed a set of ‘novel’ offences they invented and spread across five counts.

“It’s hard to believe there’s anyone sensible left in these offices that should be making Nigeria work. Regardless, I will be present whenever this case is assigned for trial. #RevolutionNow.”

PUNCH Online had earlier reported that the human rights activist and African Action Congress candidate in the 2023 election vowed not to delete the controversial tweet, despite a request from the DSS to X demanding its removal.

Restating his stance, Sowore wrote, “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.”

He also published the message sent to him by X, which confirmed that the platform had received a legal request from the DSS concerning his post.

The message from X 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.

“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. This page provides more information

“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.

“For more information on legal requests X receives from governments worldwide, please refer to this article on our Help Centre and our biannual Transparency Report.”