The Nigerian government has charged Sahara Reporters publisher and activist Omoyele Sowore alongside Facebook and X owners over Mr Sowore’s recent posts on the social media platforms describing President Bola Tinubu as a criminal.
The trio were jointly charged at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday.
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The prosecution filed five counts which all centred on Mr Sowore’s posts on Facebook and X in August.
While two of the counts have to do with cybercrimes brought under the Cybercrimes Act, the three others, which have to do with defamation of Mr Tinubu’s reputation and causing public fear and disturbance, were brought under the Criminal Code Act.
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Although the case lists X and Facebook as co-defendants, a PREMIUM TIMES review of the filing shows that the framing of each of the five alleged offences takes aim at just Mr Sowore.
None of the five counts names any of the social media platforms as an offender or accuses any of them of an offence.
The case was filed on behalf of the Nigerian government by Mohammed Abubakar, Director of Public Prosecutions, Federal Ministry of Justice.
It came about a week after the State Security Service (SSS), Nigeria’s secret police, threatened both X Incorp and Meta (Facebook) Incorp in separate letters to delete Mr Sowore’s posts and deactivate his accounts or face the consequences.
SSS, 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 social media posts calling Mr Tinubu a criminal.
Mr Sowore wrote to both X Incorp and Meta Incorp to defend his posts. He informed the US-headquartered corporate bodies that the call by the SSS was the latest in a series of harassments, rights violations, mistreatments he has received from the government over his public views and civic actions.
He also replied to the SSS, insisting he would not delete the posts.
Mr 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.”
Charges pressed against the trio
Four of the five charges centre on Mr Sowore’s all-capital-letter posts on Facebook and X reacting to a part of Mr Tinubu’s remarks during an official visit to Brazil at the time. Mr Sowore made the posts on 25 August.
“THIS CRIMINAL @ OFFICIAL PBAT ACTUALLY WENT TO BRAZIL TO STATE THAT THERE IS NO MORE CORRUPTION UNDER HIS REGIME IN NIGERIA. WHAT AUDACITY TO LIE SHAMELESSLY!,” it read.
The prosecution treated the posts on Facebook and X as separate offences, despite being the same message.
So, they alleged in Counts 1 and 2 that Mr Sowore knew the posts to be false but shared it, all the same, “for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in the country, especially among individuals, who hold divergent views on the personality of the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR).”
The act was said to be contrary to Section 24 (1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024, among other counts.
In Counts 3 and 4, which also have to do with the same posts, the prosecution accused Mr Sowore of publishing defamatory materials on Facebook and X “against the personality and reputation of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Amhed Tinubu (GCFR)”. The act, according to the prosecution, was contrary to Section 375 of the Criminal Code Act.
Count five accused Mr Sowore of publishing on 26 August false information via his Facebook and X handles “against the personality and reputation “ of Mr Tinubu, “with intent to cause public fear and disturbance”. It alleged that the act was contrary to Section 59 of the Criminal Code Act and punishable under the same Act. But the Count does not refer to any post in particular,
There is no direct complaint against X and Facebook in the five counts.
No date has been fixed for the arraignment of the defendants
The feud between Sowore and Nigerian government
Mr Sowore’s faceoff with the Nigerian government worsened in 2019, when he was arrested by the SSS after calling for a nationwide protest tagged #RevolutionNow.
The activist called for the revolution following his defeat in the 2019 presidential election.
He was charged with treasonable felony and other criminal charges, sparking international condemnation and campaigns for his release.
READ ALSO: Sowore writes X, counters SSS’ call for his post deletion, account deactivation
Despite multiple court orders granting him bail, the SSS repeatedly kept him in detention, most notably re-arresting him inside a courtroom in December 2019, an act that drew outrage from human rights groups.
Since then, Mr Sowore has faced travel restrictions, surveillance and repeated harassment with his political activities and public commentary often attracting official reprisals.
He is currently facing a series of charges filed against him by the police, some as recent as this month.
Rights groups like Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have consistently described the government’s treatment of him as a deliberate attempt to silence dissent.
Meanwhile, it was not immediately clear whether Facebook and X would send legal representatives to Nigeria to answer the charges. Both companies have previously faced regulatory battles with government authorities.
This is not the first time the Nigerian government would move against a social media platform.
On 5 June 2021, the Nigerian government banned X, then known as Twitter, after the platform took down a post by then President Muhammadu Buhari considered to be a threat to the people of South-east. The ban was not lifted until 13 January 2022.
