Human rights activist Omoyele Sowore has locked horns with the Department of State Services (DSS) in a heated battle of words over an alleged anti-Tinubu tweet.
Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters, refused demands to remove the post despite threats of severe repercussions.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that the controversy erupted from a tweet Sowore posted on August 25, 2025, via his verified X account @YeleSowore.
Reacting to President Bola Tinubu’s statement during a state visit to Brazil, where he claimed corruption had been eradicated under his administration, Sowore 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!”
However, the DSS, in a letter dated September 6, 2025, and signed by B. Bamigboye on behalf of the Director-General, labeled the tweet as an anti-Tinubu tweet, saying it is “false, misleading, and a willful attempt to spread an ideology.”
The agency argued that the post could allegedly incite violence. The DSS further claimed the tweet allegedly violated Nigerian laws, including Section 51 of the Criminal Code Act and provisions of the Cybercrimes Act 2025, citing risks to national security and Nigeria’s global reputation.
The letter read in part: “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.
“It is not in doubt that the words employed by Mr. Omoyele Sowore is misleading information, online harassment and abuse, willfulintention of furthering an ideology capable of serious harm, hate speech, causedisunity, 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.
“It is against the above-highlighted backdrop that we make an immediate and urgent demand on your corporation to, as a matter of policy, immediately take down the tweet and its attendant retweets. Should you fail, neglect, or refuse to comply within 24 hours, the Federal Government will be compelled to take far-reaching and sweeping measures through our organisation.”
However, Sowore maintained that he will not delete the tweet.
Sowore disclosed this in a post on his X account on Sunday morning, revealing that the social media platform had formally contacted him about the DSS request.
He said: “This morning, X (formerly Twitter) officially contacted me about the despicable threat letter they received from the lawless DSS over my Tweet on Tinubu. One option I will NOT be taking is deleting that Tweet. Thank you, @X.”
Sowore also shared the response of X on the petition of X corporation on the alleged anti-Tinubu tweet petition of the DSS.
The response reads: “In the interest of transparency, we are writing to inform you that X has received a request from the Department of State Services regarding your X account, @YeleSowore, that claims the following content violates the law(s) of Nigeria.
“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 authorized entity (such as law enforcement or a government agency) to remove content from their account. We provide notice whether or not the user lives in the country where the request originated.
“We understand that receiving this type of notice can be an unsettling experience. While X is not able to provide legal advice, we want you to have an opportunity to evaluate the request and, if you wish, take appropriate action to protect your interests. This may include seeking legal counsel and challenging the request in court, contacting relevant civil society organizations, voluntarily deleting the content (if applicable), or finding some other resolution. For more information on legal requests X receives from governments worldwide, please refer to this article on our Help Center and our biannual Transparency Report.
Sincerely,
X”
