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Sowore responds to DSS demand over social media post
Human rights advocate and ex-presidential aspirant Omoyele Sowore has officially replied to a directive from the Department of State Services (DSS) ordering him to remove a social media post in which he labeled President Bola Ahmed Tinubu a “criminal.”
In a letter dated September 7, 2025, the DSS accused Sowore of sharing a “false, malicious, and inciting” message on X (formerly Twitter) on August 26, 2025.
READ ALSO: Sowore exposes Onanuga’s push to delete post calling Tinubu a ‘criminal’
The agency gave him a one-week deadline to withdraw the statement, warning that failure to do so would force it to “explore all lawful means” to safeguard national security and public order.
Sowore’s response, dated September 12, rejected the demand as “fundamentally defective, flawed in principle, and absolutely unlawful.” He asserted that the secret police lack the authority to dictate how he voices criticism of the President.
He also recounted his past confrontations with the DSS, accusing the agency of notorious human rights violations and unlawful persecution.
The letter includes: “In 1993, while I was Student Union President at the University of Lagos, policemen abducted me from the university gate during a peaceful pro-democracy protest. I was taken to your Lagos office after being driven around with my head tucked under a seat. From Awolowo Way in Ikoyi, I was detained unlawfully for weeks at the notorious Inter-Center near Ikoyi Cemetery. It took several days of lecture boycotts to force your hand to release me without charges.
“Again, in January and June 1996, during and after my National Youth Service Corps in Yola, Adamawa State, your men detained me and later transferred me to the Nigerian Air Force base, where I was held in hand and leg chains for over a week before release, again without charges. My NYSC discharge certificate has been denied to me to this day because of your unlawful detention.
“In August 2019, DSS agents invaded my hotel room, abducted me, and detained me for months over trumped-up allegations of treasonable felony, money laundering, and Cybercrime. It was your first attempt to falsely accuse me of insulting a sitting President.
“That failed, as did every other false accusation advanced against me by the Government through the SSS and Police. During that period, you flouted several court judgments. Most disgracefully, your men invaded a Federal High Court presided by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu to abduct me even after bail conditions were met. To this day, you continue to refuse to obey two court judgments ordering the return of my confiscated properties, including several mobile phones and payment of damages.
“You and your ilk have dragged me through unscrupulous abuse and gross violations of rights for decades without remorse.
“In 2021, during the inglorious Buhari years, your agency propped up a sham group, the Incorporated Trustees of Global Integrity Crusade Network, to sue Sahara Reporters and me on behalf of the criminally minded Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN). They prayed the court to compel me and others to pay Malami ₦2 billion for alleged “trauma and emotional stress” caused by Sahara Reporters’ publications in July 2020.
“In his judgment, Justice Obiora Egwuatu awarded ₦100,000 against the litigants, affirming the argument of our attorney, Marshal Abubakar, that they had no right to sue on Malami’s behalf, just as you have no right to act as proxy for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Defamation, the judge reminded, is a personal tort. The AGF should have gone to court himself if he felt defamed.
It is elementary that only the person defamed can sue. Therefore, your attempt to demand a retraction is an incompetent and unlawful attempt to hold the President’s brief.
“Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution requires the press to uphold the government’s responsibility and accountability to the people. Section 39 guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of expression, to hold opinions, and to receive and impart information without interference. Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights provides the same.
“Even in the UK, sedition and libel laws have been repealed as archaic relics of a bygone era. The UN Human Rights Committee in General Comment No. 34 has declared a free, uncensored media essential to democracy. Courts across Africa, including Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court and the African Court in Issa Konate v. Burkina Faso, have ruled that criminal defamation is unjustifiable in a democracy.
“Nigeria’s own Court of Appeal, in Arthur Nwankwo v. State (1985), struck down sedition laws when Nwankwo was convicted for criticizing Governor Jim Nwobodo. The court held that sedition was unconstitutional and inimical to free speech. Justice Adekeye, in IGP v. ANPP, asked how long Nigerians must suffer under colonial-era public order ordinances designed to gag dissent.
“Criticism is indispensable in a democracy. Freedom of speech includes the right to say what those in power find uncomfortable. Justice Olatawura reminded us that citizens must defend their hard-won freedom of expression, and that those in public office must not be intolerant of criticism. Where boundaries are crossed, the remedy is civil libel, not unlawful repression.
“The DSS’s desire to please the powers that be has always destroyed institutions while building “strong men.” But where are those strong men today, after your service broke laws and trampled rights to protect them?
“Rather than vilification, we should be commended for living up to our constitutional responsibility to hold leaders accountable. I am glad you made reference to my constant desire to seek change, the very drive that led me to run for the position of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, even though my commitments and convictions predate partisan political endeavors. It is from that same line of conviction that I have adopted an uncompromising stance, ensuring that this country does not continue down the path of perdition.
“You have no business telling me how to criticise the President. But, knowing the nature of your service, it is clear you have not learnt your lessons. Let me state it clearly once again: the determination of the Nigerian people to reclaim their country from thieves in power is unwavering. And it shall be achieved.”
Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court sitting in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a foreign national, to death by hanging, after convicting them on charges bordering on terrorism and arms proliferation.
The convicts, Yusuf Muhammad (alias Sallau), a Nigerien; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad, were apprehended on 13th June, 2025, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit in connection with cross-border criminal activities bordering on arms trafficking and terrorism.
Bello, who found all three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging, while also ordering the forfeiture of all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government, said: “The conviction is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its sustained operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria.”
The sentencing is coming about two weeks after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sentenced each of the five suspects arrested on May 31, 2026, by the DSS for their involvement in the November 21, 2025, attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Justice Binta Nyako, had handed down the judgment after the men, including two Nigeriens, pleaded guilty to all four terrorism-related charges, bordering on support for the commission of an act of terrorism, breaching both Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act, were pressed against them.
According to Count One, the men were accused of jointly conspiring to assist a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK 103 rifles as well as about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad, a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu, Niger State, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Primate Elijah Ayodele, is on the verge of coughing out a whopping N10billion, if he fails to offer unrestrained apology to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State within the next 24 hours, and retract his claim that the former Minister of Defence is bidding his time to betray Peter Obi, to whom he is to contest the 2027 presidential election as a running mate.
Without doing so, the controversial cleric, should be ready for a major court battle with the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the platform on which the pair is to contest the election.
In a letter indicating a legal action against Ayodele of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church over defamatory remarks, Kwankwaso, through Magaji Mato Ibrahim, SAN & Co., his lawyers demanded an immediate retraction and apology from the cleric over the allegations.
Details of the letter, dated June 11, and unveiled through the X platform of the legal team, was based on a viral video recorded during a live-streamed church service, where the preacher made allegations targeting Kwankwaso’s integrity as Peter Obi’s running mate under the NDC.
Quoting the cleric as stating: “KWANKWASO IS A FAKE TO OBI, KWANKWASO WILL BETRAY YOU. KWANKWASO HAS BEEN PAID TO BE VICE PRESIDENT TO OBI AMONG OTHER LIBELOUS COMMENTS WHILE PRETENDING TO BE A PREACHER,” the former governor said the comments were unprovoked, grossly unfounded, and carefully designed to create a rift within the ranks of the political party and its supporters.
Handing Ayodele a 24-hour ultimatum to publish a full and unequivocal retraction across all social media platforms and news outlets with the same prominence as the original video, they also demanded a written undertaking that he would cease and desist from making any further malicious statements against their client, warning that failure to comply, would lead to full legal actions.
The letter stated: “We shall claim substantial damages to the tune of Ten Billion Naira and cost of the action on a full indemnity basis amongst other reliefs.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday demanded the immediate end to the exportation of minerals from countries in Africa in their raw forms, which he said had led to massive exploitation of the continent.
The President, told member countries of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), a forum of Ministers in charge of Mining and Solid Minerals on the continent to speak with one voice to promote, collective interests, ensure value addition, and prevent the continent from becoming merely a source of raw materials for the rest of the world.
As the Grand Patron of the group, chaired by Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, gave the charge while receiving a delegation of AMSG in the State House, Tinubu told the delegation that the group had a critical role to play in strengthening Africa’s bargaining power in the global mineral market and ensuring that the continent derives maximum value from its natural resources.
His words: “ What we should do is avoid bureaucracy and deceit; we must put an end to exploitation. The rest of the world won’t mind if your country is a cesspit of dams and rubbish and excavates your raw materials without giving value.
“It is our responsibility to collaborate and cooperate to ensure that these metals and minerals bring value to us, bring technology to us, and we can do it. It is how much each country will put into the research, development and refinery. I don’t see reasons we cannot demand centralisation of that conversation somewhere on the continent. So why not utilise that in our research and development and knowledge-based economy to enhance the quality of life and bring prosperity to our people.”
Emphasising that Africa possessed enormous mineral wealth that should be strategically harnessed to drive industrialisation, create jobs and accelerate economic transformation across the continent, the President, said the era of exporting raw minerals without local processing and beneficiation must give way to a new model that encourages investment in local industries, technology transfer and the development of value chains that retain wealth within Africa.
Alake, who had earlier expressed gratitude to the President for his exemplary leadership under the Renewed Hope Agenda, said the gesture had shown support for Nigeria’s mineral sector, especially in the local value-addition and economic diversification drive, where artisanal miners are empowered.
He told the President: “You encouraged us to look at the focal point of the establishment of this group, which is to ensure that the African natural resources, especially with regards to minerals, critical matters, are localised, the beneficiation coming directly to Africans generally.
“You charged us that we should set our sails very high and ensure that local value addition is a pivot around which all the objectives of this organisation should revolve.
“So, sir, we have gone implemented your charge and we are quitted that today local value addition is reverberating all over Africa.”
He added that some member countries have gone ahead to ban the export of raw minerals.
He explained members of the body were in Abuja for the Fifth edition of the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS 2026), to push for a new continental approach to resource management and industrial development.
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