The Department of State Services (DSS) has filed a five-count charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja against human rights activist Omoyele Sowore, alongside social media giants X (formerly Twitter) and Meta (owners of Facebook).

Court filings marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2015, sighted on Tuesday, list the Federal Republic of Nigeria as complainant, with Sowore, X Inc., and Meta Inc. as defendants.

According to the charge sheet, Sowore allegedly used his official X handle, @YeleSowore, and his Facebook page to publish posts on August 25 and 26, 2025, in which he described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a “criminal” and accused him of making false claims about corruption during an official trip to Brazil.

The DSS claims the posts were false, defamatory, and capable of inciting public disorder, citing breaches of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024, and provisions of the Criminal Code Act.

• Counts one and two accuse Sowore of knowingly publishing false information to cause a breakdown of law and order.
• Counts three and four allege defamation of President Tinubu’s person and reputation.
• Count five charges him with spreading false information intended to cause public fear and disturbance.

Meanwhile, Sowore, the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), has hit back by filing two fundamental rights suits at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

In a statement signed by his lawyer Tope Temokun, Sowore’s legal team described the DSS action as “unconstitutional censorship” of his accounts on Meta and X.

“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,” Temokun said.

He further stressed that Section 39 of the Nigerian Constitution guarantees freedom of expression without interference. “Censorship of political criticism is alien to democracy. No security agency, no matter how powerful, can suspend or delete those rights.”

The lawyers also accused X and Meta of complicity if they bow to censorship demands. “They cannot hide behind neutrality while authoritarianism is exported onto their platforms,” they argued.

Their prayers before the court include:

• A declaration that the DSS has no legal authority to censor Nigerians on social media.
• An order restraining Meta and X from being used as tools of repression.
• Full protection of Sowore’s rights  and by extension, those of all Nigerians  against unlawful censorship.

They warned: “Today it is @YeleSowore; tomorrow it may be you. This struggle is not about personalities, it is about principle. We shall resist every attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship.”

The DSS had earlier, on September 8, issued Sowore a one-week ultimatum to delete the “false, malicious, and inciting” posts about President Tinubu. The deadline expired on Monday, but Sowore refused to comply, and both X Corp. and Meta declined to delete his accounts.

The charges were filed by Muhammed Abubakar, Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, alongside other counsel representing the DSS and the Nigerian government.