Omoyele Sowore, a human rights advocate and publisher of SaharaReporters, has filed a countersuit against the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), Facebook’s owner Meta Platforms Inc., and X Corp. (formerly Twitter) at the Federal High Court in Abuja over what he describes as “digital dictatorship”.
The lawsuit contests what Sowore claims is unconstitutional social media account censorship.
“This struggle is not about personalities. It is about principle. And we shall resist every attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship,” Sowore stated via his lawyer, Tope Temokun.
Nigerian government’s lawsuit against Sowore, X, Facebook
The lawsuit comes after the Department of State Services (DSS), acting for the Nigerian government, previously sued Sowore for allegedly publishing false information about President Bola Tinubu.
The DSS claimed that Sowore’s social media posts describing Tinubu as a criminal were illegal and asked the platforms to take them down.
Sowore argues that the Nigerian government has no right to order social media companies to remove all his posts, including the one in question.
Sowore’s lawyer stated, “Meta and X must also understand this: when they bow to unlawful censorship demands, they become complicit in the suppression of liberty. They cannot hide behind neutrality while authoritarianism is exported onto their platforms.”
Aims of Sowore’s lawsuit
Sowore’s lawsuit aims to prevent the government from ordering these platforms to take down his content in the future.
Tope Temokun, Sowore’s lawyer, emphasised that the lawsuit seeks to overturn the government’s purportedly unconstitutional censorship of Sowore’s accounts with Meta and X.
Sowore uses Section 39 of the Nigerian Constitution, which protects freedom of expression, to support his claim that this kind of censorship of political criticism is incompatible with democratic ideals.
The lawsuit clarifies that the issue is one of free speech’s continued existence in Nigeria. It emphasised that no Nigerian is safe if state agencies have the authority to dictate to international platforms who can speak and what can be said; their voices will be silenced at the whim of those in authority.
Sowore’s demands
Therefore, Sowore prays to the court that it should declare that the DSS lacks legal authority to restrict Nigerians’ access to social media; that X and Meta shouldn’t use their platforms as instruments of oppression; and that his rights—and consequently, all Nigerians—should be shielded entirely from illegal censorship.
Tope stated, “We call on all lovers of freedom, journalists, human rights defenders, and the Nigerian people to stand firm. Today it is Sowore; 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,” he concluded.
The DSS had previously given Sowore a week’s notice to take down the post, calling it “false, malicious, and inciting.”
However, the current legal proceedings result from Sowore’s failure to comply with the demand.
The DSS, Meta, and X Corp. have not yet made any public comments about the lawsuit.