Fresh controversy has hit Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS), after evidence emerged suggesting the agency forged the signature of a top government prosecutor in order to press charges against human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore.
Court filings reviewed by SaharaReporters revealed clear discrepancies between the authentic signature of M. B. Abubakar, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) at the Ministry of Justice, and the one the DSS attached to documents in Sowore’s case. The activist, who shared the evidence on X, described the DSS as a “rogue agency” that has consistently abused its powers.
The charges, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, accuse Sowore of defaming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by calling him a “criminal.” Also listed as co-defendants are X Corp (owners of the social media platform X) and Meta Platforms Inc., parent company of Facebook. The case, however, has yet to be assigned to a judge, and no date has been fixed for arraignment.
In a bold response, Sowore counter-sued the DSS, Meta, and X Corp., describing their actions as unconstitutional censorship aimed at silencing political dissent. Through his lawyer, Tope Temokun, he asked the court to restrain the DSS from forcing global platforms to take down his posts, insisting that such censorship undermines Nigeria’s democracy and violates Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.
“This is about the survival of free speech in Nigeria,” Temokun argued in a statement. “If state agencies can dictate to global platforms who may speak and what may be said, then no Nigerian is safe. Meta and X must also understand they cannot bow to unlawful censorship demands without becoming complicit in repression.”
The suit seeks declarations that the DSS has no legal authority to censor Nigerians online, and that Meta and X must resist being used as tools of authoritarian control. Sowore, a former presidential candidate and longtime critic of successive governments, warned that the struggle is bigger than him.
“Today it is Sowore; tomorrow it may be you,” the activist said. “This is not about personalities but about principle. We must resist every attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship.”
The DSS had earlier written directly to Sowore demanding he delete posts referring to President Tinubu as a “criminal.” The agency also petitioned Meta and X to deactivate his verified accounts, warning that his statements were “false, malicious, and inciting.” But Sowore has refused to back down, vowing that no amount of intimidation will stop him from speaking truth to power.
