Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has filed fresh suits at the Federal High Court in Abuja against the Department of State Services (DSS), Meta (owners of Facebook), and X Corp. (formerly Twitter), over alleged attempts to censor his social media posts critical of President Bola Tinubu.
The legal action was disclosed in a statement signed by Sowore’s lawyer, Tope Temokun, and shared on Facebook on Tuesday.
According to Temokun, the suits challenge what he described as the “unconstitutional censorship initiated by the DSS against Sowore’s accounts maintained with Meta and X.”
He stressed that the case was fundamentally about safeguarding freedom of expression, noting:
“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.”
Temokun further argued that both Meta and X could risk complicity in political repression if they comply with unlawful censorship requests.
“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 said.
The suit, among other reliefs, seeks a declaration that the DSS has no legal power to censor Nigerians on social media and that Meta and X must not act as “tools of repression.”
Sowore had earlier alleged that the DSS filed a five-count charge against him, Facebook, and X over his post describing President Tinubu as a “criminal.” Despite a reported takedown request sent to X, Sowore vowed not to delete the tweet, insisting the move amounted to a violation of his rights.
In a notice shared by Sowore, X confirmed it had received a legal request from the DSS concerning the post but clarified that no action had been taken on the reported content, in line with its policy of defending user voices.
The case is expected to be assigned for trial in Abuja in the coming weeks.
