Following a post on his X handle, the Department of State Services (DSS), has petitioned X Corp., (formerly Twitter) demanding the immediate ban and deactivation of the account owned by Omoyele Sowore within 24 hours.
The DSS insisted that the post on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by Sowore, a known activist and politician, disparaged President Tinubu and posed as a threat to national security.
Sowore had on August 25, 2025, posted on his verified X account @YeleSowore, a video of Tinubu during a state visit to Brazil in which he categorically criticised President Tinubu’s comment that “corruption is no more in Nigeria”.
Sowere 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!”
But, the DSS in a letter dated September 6, 2025 and signed by B. Bamigboye on behalf of the Director-General, State Services, the Service described the post as false, online harassment and a wilful attempt to further an ideology.
The DSS in the letter to X Corp, noted that the tweet was directed at the President through his official known X handle @officialABAT.
The Service emphasised that it was not in doubt that the words employed by Sowore were misleading information, online harassment, abuse, wilful intention of furthering an ideology capable of serious harm, hate speech, cause disunity, discredit/disparage the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria within the Comity of Nations with the aim to damage the image of Nigeria and cause serious threat to national security of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The secret police noted that the post could provoke unrest among some Nigerians, including supporters of the President.
The DSS letter stated; “The said tweet is still in circulation and has attracted widespread condemnation by majority of Nigerians, some of whom may resort to unwholesome activities to vent their grievance over it, especially supporters of the President who have started taking to the streets in protest, thereby creating political tension and threatening the country’s national security.
“This is in addition to the disparaging effect the tweet has on the reputation of Mr. President and the country before the comity of nations.
“The tweet under reference is against the transparency on X and government has frowned at it and found it extremely dangerous, false, privacy violation behaviour that manipulate and negatively impacts on the person of the President and the country,” it said.
The DSS also cited several Nigerian laws which the post violated, including Section 51 of the Criminal Code Act, provisions of the Cyber Crimes Act 2025 and Section 2(3) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
It specifically said that the post contravenes; “Sections 19, 22 and 24 of the Cyber Crimes Act 2025 which prohibits and makes it an offence to spread fake news or publishing content, especially with the intent to embarrass or humiliate others, provoke ethnic, religious, or tribal hatred through online or offline statements; amounting to domestic terrorism.
“It is against the above highlighted backdrop that we make an immediate and urgent demand on your corporation to as a matter of its own policy, immediately take down the tweet and its attendant re-tweets,” it insisted.
The DSS warned that should X “fail to comply with the command, the Federal Government will be compelled to take far-reaching, sweeping and across-the-board measures”.
