Amnesty International has called on the Department of State Services (DSS) to immediately retract its demand to X (formerly Twitter) for the removal of a post by human rights activist Omoyele Sowore.
The Port City News earlier reported that DSS in a letter signed by B. Bamigboye and addressed to X Chairman and CEO in Bastrop County, Texas asked the microblogging site to take down Sowore post within twenty-four four hours.
DSS accused Sowore of spreading misleading information, engaging in online harassment, and inciting violence.
Sowore’s tweet, posted on August 25, 2025, via his verified handle @YeleSowore, read: “This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is NO MORE corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!”
DSS claimed the post disparaged Tinubu’s assertion during a Brazil visit that corruption in Nigeria has ended under his administration.
However, Amnesty International described DSS action as a “shocking demand” and a “brazen attempt to silence critical voices,” highlighting a climate of fear being fostered in Nigeria’s social media space.
In a statement released on Sunday, Amnesty International condemned the DSS’s request to deactivate Sowore’s X account, labeling it “outrageous” and a “desperate attempt at censorship and abuse of power.”
The rights group stated that the security agency’s action lacks any legal basis under both national and international law. According to the statement, X had already alerted Sowore to the DSS’s request.
Also see: Sowore: SERAP Urges Tinubu to Stop DSS Threat to Ban X
Amnesty International argued that this move violates Nigeria’s obligations under the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all of which Nigeria has ratified.
Amnesty International urged Nigerian authorities to cease online human rights violations, specifically those related to freedom of expression and privacy, and to uphold their constitutional and international obligations.
The organisation also appealed to X not to comply with the Nigerian government’s censorship demands and to protect freedom of expression for activists on its platform.
“This is not the first time Sowore has been targeted by Nigerian authorities for his activism and criticism of the government.
“He has faced repeated arrests and charges, including for treason, in what Amnesty International and other human rights groups have consistently described as politically motivated attempts to silence him”, said the organisation.
