HUMAN rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has filed a suit against the State Security Service (SSS), Meta, and X Corp at the Federal High Court in Abuja, over what he described as unconstitutional censorship of his social media accounts.
The ICIR reported earlier that the Federal Government filed a five-count criminal charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja against Sowore, accusing him of using social media to defame President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and spread information capable of disturbing public order.
The Nigerian government stated that the posts described the president as a ‘criminal’ and alleged he falsely claimed there was no more corruption in Nigeria.
The government further said the comments were intended to cause a breakdown of law and order and to tarnish the president’s reputation.
In a counter suit, Sowore, through his lawyer, Tope Temokun, urged the court to stop the SSS (otherwise known as the Department of State Services, DSS) from ordering global social media platforms to take down his posts, including one where he described President Bola Tinubu as a ‘criminal.’
“These suits were filed to challenge the unconstitutional censorship initiated by the DSS/SSS against Sowore’s accounts maintained with Meta and X.
“The lawsuit states categorically that 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,” the lawyer said.
He maintained that silencing political criticism had no place in a democracy, pointing to Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, which upholds the right to freedom of expression.
“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.
“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 added.
The suit urged the court to declare that the SSS lacks the legal power to censor Nigerians on social media, that Meta and X should not permit their platforms to be used for repression, and that Sowore’s rights as well as those of other Nigerians must be safeguarded from unlawful interference.
“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,” he stressed.
Sowore, SaharaReporters publisher, has frequently clashed with security agencies over his criticisms of successive Nigerian governments.
The ICIR reported last week that the SSS wrote to Sowore, ordered him to delete the social media posts where he labelled Tinubu a ‘criminal’.
The agency cautioned that refusal to comply would trigger legal action aimed at “protecting national security and public order”.
Sowore, however, defied the SSS directive, insisting that his criticism of the government formed part of his constitutional responsibility to hold leaders accountable.
The agency went further to petitioned Meta Platforms Inc., owners of Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), urging them to delete Sowore’s posts and deactivate his verified accounts.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.