AFTER months of tension and two failed attempts, the Department of State Services (DSS) on Tuesday finally arraigned SaharaReporters publisher and rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, before the Federal High Court in Abuja over allegations of cybercrime linked to his social media criticism of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
News Point Nigeria recalls that in August, the DSS openly faulted a series of posts by Sowore on X (formerly Twitter), in which he described President Tinubu as a “criminal.”
The agency instructed him to take down the posts, an order the activist refused to obey leading to the initiation of legal proceedings.
Appearing before Justice Mohammed Umar, Sowore was arraigned on a five-count charge bordering on alleged violations of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024 and the Criminal Code Act. The prosecution claims his comments amounted to criminal defamation and cyberstalking of the President.
Sowore pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Shortly after his plea, his lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, moved a bail application. Justice Umar granted him bail on self-recognizance, citing his previous presidential candidacy and the fact that his international passport remains in court custody.
But the judge issued a stern caveat: “The defendant must refrain from making statements detrimental to the peace and security of the country. Any breach will lead to immediate revocation of this bail.”
Tuesday’s arraignment followed two earlier stalled attempts. The DSS legal team, led by Akinolu Kehinde (SAN), had previously accused Sowore’s lawyers of deliberately introducing “legal obstacles” to delay the proceedings.
This time, Justice Umar insisted there was sufficient basis to proceed since Sowore had honoured earlier court directives and remained under judicial supervision.
In a dramatic development, the two tech giants on whose platforms the comments were published X Inc. and Meta Inc. were named as 2nd and 3rd defendants in the charge sheet (FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025).
The prosecution alleges that the companies failed to remove the posts the DSS considered defamatory.
Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 and 2023 elections, has long been a vocal critic of successive Nigerian administrations. His media platform, SaharaReporters, is known for exposing high-level corruption and political scandals.
His August posts describing President Tinubu as a “criminal” sparked widespread debate on free speech, presidential accountability, and the scope of Nigeria’s expanded cybercrime laws.
The court is expected to set a date for the commencement of full trial, where both the prosecution and the defence will argue whether Sowore’s statements constitute criminal defamation or fall under constitutionally protected freedom of expression.
For now, Sowore remains free on conditional bail but under clear judicial warning.
