SERAP Warns DSS Against ‘Replay Of Buhari’s Twitter Ban’ Over Sowore’s Anti-Tinubu Post, Threatens Court Action
SERAP Warns DSS Against ‘Replay Of Buhari’s Twitter Ban’ Over Sowore’s Anti-Tinubu Post, Threatens Court Action
SERAP warned that the DSS’s action threatens human rights and undermines freedom of expression in Nigeria.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has condemned the Department of State Services (DSS) over its letter to X (formerly Twitter) demanding the deactivation of a post by human rights activist and former African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore.
In a statement on Sunday, SERAP warned that the DSS’s action threatens human rights and undermines freedom of expression in Nigeria.
“President Tinubu should direct Nigeria’s State Security Service (SSS, also known as DSS) to immediately withdraw the implied threat to ban X (formerly Twitter) in Nigeria over a tweet by journalist Omoyele Sowore,” the organisation said.
It further cautioned that, “The threat against X if carried out would amount to collective punishment and crackdown on access to social media and have a chilling effect on the exercise of Nigerians’ rights to freedom of expression, media freedom and access to information online.”
SERAP cited judicial precedent to back its position, noting that the “ECOWAS Court of Justice has held that access to Twitter is a fundamental human right.”
“Freedom of expression is indeed a fundamental right which is protected under section 39 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party,” it said.
It stressed that, “Nigerian authorities are required to take steps to protect the important function of independent media online and offline to ensure free communication of information and ideas between citizens and elected representatives and to inform public opinion.”
SERAP also warned against restrictive practices, saying, “Nigerian authorities cannot use repressive and non-human rights compliant laws to restrict Nigerians’ human rights offline and online.”
“Any restriction of the right to freedom of expression online and offline must adhere to the constitutional and international requirements of legality, necessity and proportionality, and legitimacy,” it added.
The group emphasized that the “threat would lead to an unnecessary or disproportionate interference with freedom of expression.”
Citing global legal principles, SERAP recalled that the “UN Human Rights Committee has stated in its General Comment No 34 that all public figures are ‘legitimately subject to criticism and political opposition.’”
It further argued that the DSS action mirrors past censorship, saying, “While Nigerian authorities have a responsibility to ensure compliance with national and international law, they must ensure that the ability of Nigerians to exercise their human rights is not undermined.
“The threat by the DSS seems to be a replay of the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria by the administration of the former president Muhammadu Buhari.
“The ECOWAS Court then declared unlawful the suspension of Twitter by the Buhari administration and ordered the administration never to repeat it again.”
“The Court also held that the act of suspending the operation of Twitter is unlawful and inconsistent with the provisions of Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” it said.
Concluding its statement, SERAP declared: “The DSS should stop pressuring X to censor online content, in violation of privacy, freedom of expression, media freedom, and access to information. We’ll see the administration in court if the threat is not immediately withdrawn.”
Earlier, SaharaReporters reported that the DSS had formally petitioned the management of X, demanding the immediate suspension or deactivation of Sowore’s verified account over a post it described as a threat to national security.
In a letter signed by B. Bamigboye, for the Director General, State Services, dated September 6, 2025, and addressed to the Chairman and CEO of X Corp in Texas, United States, the DSS alleged that Sowore’s post constituted hate speech, cybercrime, and incitement to violence against the President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to the DSS, Sowore, through his handle @YeleSowore, made a post on August 25, 2025, at 11:38 PM, in which he wrote: “This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is NO MORE corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!”
The secret police described the statement as “personally directed at Mr. President” and said it had “attracted widespread condemnation by majority of Nigerians, some of whom may resort to unwholesome activities to vent their grievance over it, especially supporters of the President who have started taking to the streets in protest.”
The DSS claimed that Sowore’s “tweet under reference is against the transparency on X and Government has frowned at it and found it extremely dangerous, false, privacy violation behavior that manipulate and negatively impacts on the person of the President and the Country”
Citing Nigerian law, the DSS said the post violates Section 51 of the Criminal Code Act Cap. 77, which prohibits the publication of false information, as well as provisions of the Cyber Crimes Act 2025, which criminalises spreading fake news, offensive content, and statements intended to provoke ethnic, religious, or tribal hatred. It also referenced the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, arguing that Sowore’s words could amount to domestic terrorism.
“The author and purveyor of the inflammatory online publication against Mr. President is very much aware that the publication is also prohibited by Section 2(3) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and other relevant Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the DSS said.
“It is not in doubt that the words employed by Mr. Omoyele Sowore is misleading information, online harassment and abuse, willful intention of furthering an ideology capable of serious harm, hate speech, cause disunity, discredit/disparage the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria within the Comity of Nations to damage the image of Nigeria and cause serious threat to national security of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The DSS, therefore, requested X Corp to urgently delete Sowore’s post and deactivate his account, warning that both the author and the platform could be held “criminally liable” under Nigerian law.
“It is against the above highlighted backdrop that we make an immediate and urgent demand on your Corporation to as a matter of its own policy, immediately TAKE DOWN the tweet and its attendant re-tweets,” the DSS said.
Sowore has, however, vowed not to delete the tweet.
