DSS Gives X Corp 24 Hours to Deactivate Omoyele Sowore’s Account Over “Disparaging” Tweet
The Department of State Services (DSS) has petitioned X Corp, the parent company of the social media platform X, to immediately ban or deactivate the verified account of Nigerian activist and politician Omoyele Sowore.
The agency alleges that Sowore’s tweet about President Bola Tinubu’s recent trip to Brazil constitutes a threat to national security and violates Nigerian law.
According to the DSS, Sowore’s tweet, which reads “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!”, is “misleading information, online harassment and abuse, willful intention of furthering an ideology capable of serious harm, hate speech, and discredit/disparage the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
The DSS claims that the tweet has sparked widespread condemnation and protests by the President’s supporters, creating political tension and posing a threat to the country’s national security.
The agency has given X Corp 24 hours to comply with its demands, warning that failure to act would compel the Nigerian government to take “far-reaching, sweeping and across-the-board measures” against the platform.
The DSS cited several Nigerian laws that it claims the tweet violates, including provisions from the Criminal Code Act, the Cyber Crimes Act of 2025, and the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act of 2022. These laws prohibit the publication of false information, spreading fake news, and instigating hatred, with both the author and the platform being held liable.
Sowore, a longtime critic of successive Nigerian governments, has repeatedly accused the state of attempting to silence dissent. The outcome of this petition remains to be seen, with X Corp yet to publicly comment on the matter.
