Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has filed fresh suits at the Federal High Court, Abuja, against the Department of State Services, Meta (owners of Facebook), and X Corp. (formerly Twitter), over alleged attempts to censor his social media posts critical of President Bola Tinubu.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by his lawyer, Tope Temokun, which he uploaded on Facebook on Tuesday.
According to Temokun, the suits were filed to challenge “the unconstitutional censorship initiated by the DSS/SSS against Sowore’s accounts maintained with Meta and X.”
The lawyer stressed that the case was about safeguarding free speech.
READ ALSO:
‘Captured;’ Nigerian Army Arrests Notorious IPOB Commander Gentle de Yahoo
GestPoint Deepens Housing Affordability, Expands Real Estate Opportunities
Why Dangote Petrol Sells Cheaper in Togo Than in Nigeria – Falana
Why Nigeria Revoked Oritsemeyin Rig’s Operating Licence
‘8 Days After Birthday,’ MOMAN’s First ES, Obafemi Olawore, Is Dead
“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 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in 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 further argued that Meta and X risk complicity in repression if they comply with such demands.
“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,” the statement added.
The suit, among other prayers, seeks a declaration that the DSS has no power in law to censor Nigerians on social media and that Meta and X must not act as “tools of repression.”
Recall Sowore, earlier in a Facebook post on Tuesday, said the move by DSS was a breach of 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,” Sowore wrote.
Sowore had vowed not to delete the contentious tweet despite a reported request from the DSS to X, demanding its removal.
At the time, Sowore shared a notification he received from X, which confirmed that the platform had received a legal request from the Nigerian secret police concerning his post.
The message from X read in part, “We have not taken any action on the reported content at this time as a result of this request. As X strongly believes in defending and respecting the voice of our users, it is our policy to notify our users if we receive a legal request from an authorised entity.”