Human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore has filed a lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja against the Department of State Services (DSS), Meta (Facebook’s parent company), and X Corp. (formerly Twitter), alleging attempts to censor his social media posts critical of President Bola Tinubu
The development was disclosed in a statement posted on Facebook by Sowore’s lawyer, Tope Temokun, on Tuesday.
According to Temokun, the suits challenge “the unconstitutional censorship initiated by the DSS/SSS against Sowore’s accounts maintained with Meta and X.” He emphasized that the case centers on protecting free speech.
“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. Censorship of political criticism is alien to democracy. The Constitution, under 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,” the statement partly read.
Temokun also warned that Meta and X risk becoming complicit in repression if they comply with such requests. “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 seeks, among other remedies, a declaration that the DSS has no legal authority to censor Nigerians on social media and that Meta and X must not act as “tools of repression.”
Earlier, Sowore said the DSS’s actions violated human rights. “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. Regardless, I will be present whenever this case is assigned for trial. #RevolutionNow,” he wrote.
Sowore had previously refused to delete the controversial tweet despite a reported request from the DSS to X. X confirmed in a notification that it had received a legal request from the Nigerian secret police but had not acted, noting its commitment to defending users’ voices.
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, Meta (Facebook’s parent company), and X Corp. (formerly Twitter), alleging attempts to censor his social media posts critical of President Bola Tinubu.){kind=link}