Omoyele Sowore has dragged the State Security Service (SSS), Meta (owners of Facebook), and X Corp. (formerly Twitter) before the Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged unlawful censorship of his social media accounts.
In a statement signed by his lawyer, Tope Temokun of Tope Temokun Chambers, Lagos, and made available on Tuesday, the legal team said the action seeks to defend Sowore’s fundamental rights against attempts by security agencies to silence political criticism through digital platforms.
The suits, filed as fundamental rights enforcement actions, challenge what the team described as “unconstitutional censorship” of Sowore’s accounts on Meta and X. The statement read: “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 lawyers argued that censorship of political criticism runs contrary to democratic principles and violates Section 39 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression. “No security agency, no matter how powerful, can suspend or delete those rights,” the statement added.
The chambers further warned the two social media companies against yielding to unlawful demands by state authorities, insisting that by doing so, they become complicit in suppressing liberty. “Meta and X must not lend their platforms as tools of repression,” the statement noted.
The prayers before the court include: A declaration that the SSS has no legal power to censor Nigerians on social media; an order restraining Meta and X from aiding such censorship; and full protection of Sowore’s rights and those of Nigerians against unlawful clampdowns.
The statement concluded: “This struggle is not about personalities. It is about principle. And we shall resist every attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship.”
The legal move followed a criminal charge filed earlier the same day by the Federal Government against Sowore, Meta and X at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
According to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, accuses Sowore of cyberbullying President Bola Tinubu. The charge, filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Abubakar, alleges that Sowore described the President as “a criminal” in a post on X.
The former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in 2019 and 2023 is facing a five-count charge under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024. The post in question, published on August 25 via his official X handle, read: “THIS CRIMINAL @OFFICIALPBAT ACTUALLY WENT TO BRAZIL TO STATE THAT THERE IS NO MORE CORRUPTION UNDER HIS REGIME IN NIGERIA. WHAT AUDACITY TO LIE SHAMELESSLY!”
The Federal Government contends that the post was false, intended to incite disorder, and capable of undermining public peace.
