The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 election, Omoyele Sowore, has filed two fundamental rights actions at the Federal High Court, Abuja, against the Department for State Services (DSS), social media giants Meta (Facebook) and X Corp.
According to a statement released by his legal team on Tuesday and signed by Tope Temokun, the lawsuits were filed to challenge what the lawyers described as ‘unconstitutional censorship’ against Sowore’s accounts maintained with Meta and X.
Temokun said that the lawsuit states categorically that this is about the survival of free speech in Nigeria, adding that “if state agencies can dictate to global platforms who may speak and what may be said, then no Nigerian is safe, their voices will be silenced at the whims of those in power.”
“Censorship of political criticism is alien to democracy. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in Section 39, guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of expression, without interference. No security agency, no matter how powerful, can suspend or delete those rights.”
The politician’s lawyers added that Meta and X must also understand that when they bow to unlawful censorship demands, they become complicit in the suppression of the struggle for liberty.
According to the lawyers, “They cannot hide behind neutrality while authoritarianism is exported onto their platforms.”
Sowore’s legal team’s prayers before the court are: “That the DSS has no power in law to censor Nigerians on social media; That Meta and X must not lend their platforms as tools of repression; and
“That our client’s rights and by extension, the rights of all Nigerians, be fully protected against unlawful censorship.
“We call on all lovers of freedom, journalists, human rights defenders, and the Nigerian people to stand firm. Today it is @YeleSowore ; tomorrow it may be you.
“This struggle is not about personalities. It is about principle. And we shall resist every attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship,” the statement concluded.
Sowore’s suit comes hours after the DSS had filed a five-count charge at the Federal High Court, Abuja, him.
The DSS also listed X Corp and Meta Inc. (Facebook) as defendants.
A Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Muhammed Abubakar, as well as other lawyers for the DSS, filed the charges on behalf of the agency and the Nigerian government.
The DSS had on September 8, handed Sowore a one-week ultimatum to delete what it described as a ‘false, malicious, and inciting’ social media post about President Bola Tinubu.
The ultimatum expired on Monday without Sowore deleting the posts on President Tinubu.
However, the social media companies, X Corp and Meta Incorporation who own X and Facebook, failed to oblige a demand by the DSS to delete Sowore’s accounts.