The State Security Service (SSS), also known as the DSS, has written to the management of X (formerly Twitter), demanding the urgent ban and deactivation of the verified account of human rights activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, Omoyele Sowore.
In a letter dated 6th September 2025, and addressed to the Chairman and CEO of X Corp in Texas, USA, the DSS accused Sowore of “misleading information and willful intention to further an ideology capable of serious harm.”
The letter further alleged that his posts constituted “incitement to violence, cybercrime, hate speech to discredit/disparage the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and cause serious threat to national security.”
Citing a tweet by Sowore on 25th August 2025, posted from his handle @YeleSowore, the DSS said the activist disparaged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu when 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 post as “personally directed at Mr. President” and insisted that such words undermine national security.
The letter, signed by B. Bamigboye for the Director General of State Services, warned X Corp to deactivate Sowore’s account within 24 hours or face “far-reaching, sweeping and across-the-board measures” from the Nigerian government.
The DSS argued that Sowore’s tweets had attracted “widespread condemnation by majority of Nigerians, some of whom may resort to unwholesome activities.”
Sowore’s Reaction
In response, Sowore dismissed the DSS letter as another act of repression by the Tinubu administration. Writing on Sunday morning, he declared:
“This morning I woke up to yet another act of national disgrace, an assault on institutions, and on common sense. I had seen it coming since last Tuesday, when a group of hired DSS protesters paraded around the Federal High Court and the Federal Ministry of Justice, chanting that I should ‘leave Tinubu alone,’ even demanding that the DSS arrest me.”
Sowore described the letter as “ridiculously crafted” and “a desecration of national dignity,” accusing the DSS of operating outside the law.
“The brazenness of this is not only unconstitutional, and I need not even mention the constitution, because these guys are outlaws who operate above their own laws,” he wrote.
He recounted previous cases of harassment, including his arrest during the #EndBadGovernance protests, the seizure of his passport since February 2025, and a recent raid on his cell by armed police officers that left him injured.
According to him, security agencies have even gone as far as accusing him in court of “terrorism financing,” which he described as a shameless ploy to silence him.
“To export this disgrace to Twitter in the US shows how far Nigeria has sunk into the hands of its most incompetent and dysfunctional citizens, saddled with the responsibility of managing its national security,” Sowore stated.
Drawing parallels with his clashes with the DSS under former President Muhammadu Buhari, Sowore said the same tactics of intimidation and false accusations were being recycled.
“The DSS and I have been here before, under the defunct Buhari regime. The same methods were deployed: force, subterfuge, and hiding behind rogue units. It all fell flat. And just as before, the leading actors will once again disappear into obscurity.”
“The Struggle Continues”
Sowore insisted that no amount of intimidation would deter him from his activism.
“Do you want to continue being held hostage by a tiny, wicked, inhumane band of rogues? As for me, there is no going back. The struggle against these criminals continues ceaselessly with or without a Twitter account, with or without Facebook, and whether I am in jail or outside of it. The struggle continues.”
This latest move comes despite a series of court judgments declaring the secret police’s clampdown on Sowore and his #RevolutionNow movement unlawful.
In 2019, Sowore was arrested by the DSS on August 2 ahead of the planned #RevolutionNow protests.
Despite being granted bail multiple times, he was held in detention until December 2019. He later approached the Federal High Court demanding ₦500 million in damages for the violation of his rights.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu, in a judgment delivered ruled that the arrest was illegal and ordered the DSS to pay Sowore ₦1 million as compensation.
This was not the first time the judiciary has faulted the clampdown. In May 2020, a Lagos Federal High Court awarded ₦1 million against the federal government after lawyer Olukoya Ogungbeje challenged the police disruption of the August 5, 2019 protest. The presiding judge described the action as “illegal, oppressive, undemocratic, and unconstitutional,” condemning the mass arrests, harassment, and detention of peaceful protesters.
Similarly, in December 2021, Justice Anwuli Chiekere of the Abuja Federal High Court ordered the DSS to pay Sowore ₦2 million in damages for unlawfully seizing his phone in 2019.
Despite these clear judicial pronouncements affirming Sowore’s rights and condemning the DSS’s excesses, the agency has now reportedly sought to silence his voice on social media by requesting the deactivation of his X account.