The Department of State Services, DSS, has issued a formal letter to activist and former presidential candidate of African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, demanding that he retract what it described as a “criminal, false and malicious” post made against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The letter, dated September 7, 2025, and signed by Uwem Davies on behalf of the DSS Director General, accused Sowore of making a statement on August 26, 2025, in which he wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
“This criminal actually went to Brazil to state that there is NO MORE corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!”
The DSS insisted that Sowore’s choice of words was capable of inciting public disturbance and undermining respect for the office of the President.
It further directed him to immediately retract the statement on the same platforms, publish a public apology in at least two national newspapers and two television stations, and submit his compliance within one week of receiving the letter.
However, in a lengthy response published on his Facebook page on Friday morning, Sowore rejected the DSS’s demands, describing the agency’s action as “unlawful, insidious and fundamentally defective.”
“I acknowledge receipt of your letter, which you stealthily dumped with a security guard at the office of my attorneys in Abuja, addressed to Abubakar Marshal,” he wrote. “I find your horrendous attempt at holding an unwarranted brief for the President not only insidious but fundamentally defective, flawed in principle, and absolutely unlawful.”
Sowore argued that the DSS had no legal basis to act on behalf of the President in a defamation matter. Citing constitutional and judicial precedents, he maintained that only the individual allegedly defamed had the right to sue.
“It is elementary that only the person defamed can sue. Therefore, your attempt to demand a retraction is an incompetent and unlawful attempt to hold the President’s brief,” he said.
Tracing his history of repeated arrests and detentions by security agencies, Sowore accused the DSS of having a long record of rights abuses. He recalled incidents dating back to his days as University of Lagos Student Union President in 1993, his unlawful detentions in 1996 during his NYSC in Adamawa, and his high-profile arrest in 2019 on allegations of treasonable felony.
“You and your ilk have dragged me through unscrupulous abuse and gross violations of rights for decades without remorse,” he wrote, adding that the DSS had consistently acted “bullishly, illegally, and unlawfully—serving as a ready tool of oppression for dictatorial regimes.”
Sowore also referenced a 2021 lawsuit against him and Sahara Reporters, which a Federal High Court dismissed, affirming that government officials must defend themselves directly if they feel defamed. He argued that the DSS was once again overstepping its constitutional mandate.
He further cited Section 39 of the Nigerian Constitution, Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and international rulings affirming freedom of expression as central to democracy.
“Criticism is indispensable in a democracy. Freedom of speech includes the right to say what those in power find uncomfortable,” he wrote. “Where boundaries are crossed, the remedy is civil libel, not unlawful repression.”
Concluding his response, Sowore declared:
“You have no business telling me how to criticise the President. Let me state it clearly once again: the determination of the Nigerian people to reclaim their country from thieves in power is unwavering. And it shall be achieved. Freedom cometh by struggle. Aluta continua, victoria ascerta.”