The Nigerian government has charged Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters, along with the owners of Facebook and X, with five counts of cybercrimes at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday.
The charges are based on Sowore’s recent posts that describe President Bola Tinubu as a criminal.
The charges follow a week after the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria’s secret police, threatened both X and Meta to delete Sowore’s posts and deactivate his account or “face the consequences.”
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The DSS, which has “a history of arresting and instigating the prosecution of Mr. Sowore” over his public views, also warned the activist to delete his latest posts.
In response, Sowore wrote to both X and Meta to defend his post, explaining that the DSS’s request was the “latest in a series of harassments, rights violations, mistreatments” he has received for his “public views and civic actions.”
He also replied to the DSS to insist he would not delete the posts.
Sowore shared “copies of the charges via his social media accounts on Tuesday.”
He wrote, “The State Security Service, alias @OfficialDSSNG today filed a 5-count charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja against ‘X’ (formerly Twitter Facebook, and myself. They claimed that because I called Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu a criminal, I have somehow committed a set of “novel” offences they invented and spread across five counts.
“It’s hard to believe there’s anyone sensible left in these offices that should be making Nigeria work. Regardless, I will be present whenever this case is assigned for trial. #RevolutionNow.”
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