Omoyele Sowore, the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), has filed two fundamental rights lawsuits at the Federal High Court in Abuja against Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS), as well as tech giants Meta (owners of Facebook) and X Corp (formerly Twitter).
The lawsuits, filed by his legal team and announced in a statement signed by lawyer Tope Temokun on Tuesday, challenge what they describe as “unconstitutional censorship” of Sowore’s social media accounts.
Temokun emphasized that the case centers on the broader issue of free speech in Nigeria, warning that if state agencies can control who speaks and what is said on global platforms, “no Nigerian is safe; their voices can be silenced at the whims of those in power.”
He cited Section 39 of the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression, stressing that “no security agency, regardless of its authority, has the power to suspend or suppress this right.”
The statement also criticized Meta and X Corp for allegedly complying with government censorship demands, arguing that their inaction made them “complicit in suppressing the struggle for liberty.” It continued: “They cannot claim neutrality while allowing authoritarianism to thrive on their platforms.”
Sowore’s legal team is asking the court to declare that the DSS has no legal authority to censor Nigerians on social media; that Meta and X must not allow their platforms to be used as tools of repression; and that Sowore’s constitutional rights — and by extension, those of all Nigerians — be protected from unlawful censorship.
The statement concluded with a call to action: “We urge all lovers of freedom, journalists, and human rights defenders to stand firm. Today, it is @YeleSowore; tomorrow, it could be you. This is not about personalities, it is about principle — and we will resist any attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship.”
The lawsuits follow just hours after the DSS filed a five-count charge against Sowore at the same court. The charges were brought by the Federal Ministry of Justice, represented by Director of Public Prosecutions Muhammed Abubakar and other DSS lawyers. Interestingly, Meta and X Corp were also named as co-defendants in the DSS’s case.
On September 8, the DSS issued a one-week ultimatum demanding Sowore delete what it called a “false, malicious, and inciting” social media post about President Bola Tinubu. Sowore refused to comply, and the deadline expired on Monday. Both Meta and X reportedly declined the DSS’s request to take down his accounts.
