Activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, Mr. Omoyele Sowore has filed two fundamental rights cases against the State Security Service (SSS) also known as Directorate of State Security (DSS), Meta (ie Facebook) and X, formerly known as Twitter.
In a statement signed by his attorneys; Tope Temokun, Esq., of
Tope Temokun Chambers, Lagos, Sowore is asking the Federal High Court to restrain the parties in the matter, who are owners of Facebook and X apps, from deleting his accounts with them over his ‘criminal’ post against President Bola Tinubu.
“On behalf of our client, Omoyele Sowore, we have filed two fundamental rights actions at the Federal High Court, Abuja, against the State Security Service (SSS), Meta (owners of Facebook), and X Corp. (formerly Twitter).
These suits were filed to challenge the unconstitutional censorship initiated by the DSS/SSS against Sowore’s accounts maintained with Meta and X”, the statement revealed.
Stating more substance of the case, the lawyer said “The lawsuit states categorically that this is about the survival of free speech in Nigeria. If state agencies can dictate to global platforms who may speak and what may be said, then no Nigerian is safe, their voices will be silenced at the whim of those in power.
Censorship of political criticism is alien to democracy. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in Section 39, guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of expression, without interference. No security agency, no matter how powerful, can suspend or delete those rights.
“Meta and X must also understand this: when they bow to unlawful censorship demands, they become complicit in the suppression of liberty. They cannot hide behind neutrality while authoritarianism is exported onto their platforms.
Our prayers before the Court are simple:
That the SSS has no power in law to censor Nigerians on social media;
“That Meta and X must not lend their platforms as tools of repression; and
That our client’s rights and by extension, the rights of all Nigerians, be fully protected against unlawful censorship.
We call on all lovers of freedom, journalists, human rights defenders, and the Nigerian people to stand firm. Today it is Sowore; tomorrow it may be you.
This struggle is not about personalities. It is about principle. And we shall resist every attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship”.
Sowore’s action comes on the heels of the suit filed against him by the DSS after the expiration of time given him to delete the ‘offensive’ post he had made against President Tinubu in which he referred to the President as ‘criminal’.
