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SERAP, Amnesty urge Tinubu to drop charges against Sowore, X
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Amnesty International have called on President Bola Tinubu to instruct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to promptly drop the charges against activist Omoyele Sowore, as well as the owners of X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
These charges relate to Sowore’s alleged critical and “anti-Tinubu” posts on social media platforms.
The organizations also urged the President to direct the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies to cease the misuse of judicial processes aimed at silencing public dissent and violating Nigerians’ rights through Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) or similar harassment tactics.
READ ALSO: DSS drags Sowore, Meta X to court over ‘Tinubu a criminal” post on social media
Furthermore, SERAP and Amnesty International requested that Mr. Fagbemi be instructed to urgently draft anti-SLAPP legislation for the National Assembly. This legislation would protect Nigerians from the exploitation of the justice system by security agencies and uphold freedom of expression.
In a joint letter dated 20 September 2025, signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare and Amnesty International Nigeria director Isa Sanusi, the groups emphasized that using the justice system to suppress peaceful dissent contradicts the Nigerian Constitution (1999, as amended) and Nigeria’s international human rights commitments.
They highlighted that SLAPP and criminal defamation lawsuits are neither necessary nor proportionate under the Nigerian Constitution or international human rights treaties to which Nigeria is a party. Such lawsuits create a chilling effect that restricts human rights and the free flow of ideas and information.
The groups noted that a legal challenge regarding the compatibility of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024 with freedom of expression and information rights is currently before the ECOWAS Court.
They stressed that, under the rule of law, the DSS and other agencies should not use the amended Act to suppress peaceful dissent while the lawsuit is pending.
The letter further stated: “Your government has the legal obligations to prevent harassment through legal processes against Nigerians peacefully exercising their human rights, and to protect the legitimacy, independence and impartiality of the hearing of the lawsuit on the Cybercrimes Act pending before the ECOWAS Court.”
The groups underscored that SLAPP and criminal defamation lawsuits conflict with democratic principles, noting that public officials should tolerate a high level of criticism due to their positions.
They reminded that Nigerian authorities have both negative and positive obligations to respect and protect human rights, emphasizing that freedom of expression is fundamental to democracy and civil society.
Any restrictions on human rights must be lawful, serve legitimate purposes outlined in the Constitution and treaties, and be necessary and proportionate.
The letter also referenced consistent rulings by Nigerian and regional courts that politicians should expect greater criticism than ordinary citizens, and that defamation laws should not be used to stifle dissent.
The groups warned that SLAPP lawsuits threaten freedom of expression and democracy by limiting public participation.
They requested that the recommended actions be taken within seven days of receiving or publishing the letter, warning that failure to respond would lead to legal actions, including before the ECOWAS Court of Justice.
According to their information, the Federal Government recently charged Omoyele Sowore and social media platform owners over alleged “anti-Tinubu” posts. Two charges relate to the Cybercrimes Act, while three others involve criminal defamation and causing public fear under the Criminal Code Act.
The suit, filed on 16 September 2025 at the Federal High Court in Abuja, followed Sowore’s alleged refusal to delete posts critical of President Tinubu. The charges were brought on behalf of the DSS and Federal Government by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
In May 2025, the DSS also filed a SLAPP lawsuit against Professor Pat Utomi, accusing him of attempting to unlawfully usurp executive powers by establishing a shadow government. The suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, claimed Utomi’s actions threatened national security and constitutional order.
Additionally, DSS operatives filed a SLAPP lawsuit against SERAP in October 2024 over allegations of an unauthorized office invasion.
These cases exemplify the increasing use of SLAPP lawsuits by security agencies in Nigeria to intimidate citizens exercising their rights peacefully.
The groups expressed concern that SLAPP lawsuits suppress freedom of expression and other fundamental rights protected by the Nigerian Constitution, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
They reminded that the Nigerian Constitution and these treaties require the government to guarantee freedoms including expression, peaceful assembly, association, and participation in public affairs.
The letter acknowledged President Tinubu’s repeated commitments to uphold fundamental rights, citing his inaugural speech and Democracy Day address on 12 June 2025, where he stated:
“We dare not seek silence because the imposed silence of repressed voices breeds chaos and ill will, not the harmonics of democracy in the long term.”
“No one should bear the brunt of injustice for merely writing a bad report about me or calling me names. Democracy requires a fair degree of tolerance for harsh words and stinging insults. Call me names, call me whatever you will, and I will still call upon democracy to defend your right to do so.”
The groups also referenced the ECOWAS Court of Justice’s 25 March 2022 ruling ordering Nigerian authorities to stop using section 24 of the Cybercrime Act 2015 to prosecute individuals for insulting or stalking public officials online. The Court declared section 24 “arbitrary, vague and repressive” and ordered its repeal in line with human rights obligations.
Although the 2024 Cybercrime (Amendment) Act repealed section 24, the groups expressed concern that the new provisions remain vague and repressive, particularly regarding what constitutes “causing a breakdown of law and order,” risking punishment of peaceful expression.
The Act’s broad definition of “cyberstalking” as conduct causing reasonable fear also raises concerns about misuse against legitimate human rights activities.
The groups criticized the Act’s punitive approach to stalking and harassment, noting insufficient safeguards to prevent abuse against peaceful expression.
They warned that provisions criminalizing cyberstalking, defamation, seditious libel, or false news disproportionately penalize individuals and restrict public debate on important issues.
The UN Human Rights Committee’s General Comment No. 34 was cited, emphasizing the high value of uninhibited expression in public debate and stating that insulting public figures does not justify penalties.
The Committee affirmed that all public figures, including heads of state, are subject to criticism and political opposition, and called on states to decriminalize defamation due to the disproportionate nature of criminal penalties.
Finally, the Committee stressed that defamation laws must not infringe on freedom of expression and information rights.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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