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 listed as the 2nd and 3rd defendants in the suit are X Corp (owners of social media platform X) and Meta Platforms Inc., parent company of Facebook.
According to court documents filed on September 16, 2025, the DSS, acting through the Federal Ministry of Justice (FMOJ), brought a five-count charge against Sowore. He is accused of defaming President Bola Tinubu by labelling him a “criminal” in social media posts published via his official X handle and Facebook page on August 25 and 26, 2025, during the president’s state visit to Brazil.
The charge sheet, signed by M.B. Abubakar, Esq., Director of Public Prosecutions at the FMOJ, lists M.E. Ernest, U.B. Bulla, C.S. Eze, and E.G. Orubor as counsel. Exhibits attached include a printout of Sowore’s tweet, a printout of his Facebook post, and a letter addressed to X Corp.
As of Tuesday, the case has not been assigned to any judge, and no date has been fixed for Sowore’s arraignment.
The case marks the latest escalation in the long-running standoff between Sowore and Nigeria’s domestic intelligence agency.
Earlier, the DSS had demanded that Sowore retract his comments, publish an apology in national newspapers, and issue a retraction statement on X. Sowore refused, maintaining that his remarks were protected under the right to freedom of expression.
The DSS, in response, vowed to pursue the matter “within the ambit of the law,” culminating in the present charges.
