The Department of State Services (DSS) has issued a formal directive to X Corporation, urging the removal of a tweet shared by activist Omoyele Sowore that accused President Bola Tinubu of making false claims about corruption in Nigeria.
Sowore, who contested in previous presidential elections, took to his verified X account @YeleSowore on August 25 to react to Tinubu’s remarks during his official trip to Brazil. In his tweet, Sowore shared a video of the President and lambasted him for asserting that corruption no longer exists in Nigeria.
He posted: “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!”
The DSS, in a letter dated September 6 and signed by B. Bamigboye for the Director-General, labeled the post as a violation of Nigerian laws. The agency argued that the content not only ridiculed the President but also posed “a serious threat to national security.”
The letter emphasized that Sowore’s tweet had incited anger among citizens, some of whom had already staged street demonstrations in solidarity with Tinubu.
“The said tweet is still in circulation and has attracted widespread condemnation by majority of Nigerians, some of whom may resort to unwholesome activities… thereby creating political tension and threatening the country’s national security,” the DSS noted.
The security body cited provisions from the Criminal Code Act, the Cybercrimes Act 2025, and the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022, stating that the post breached sections relating to fake news, online harassment, and attempts to provoke disunity.
It demanded that X Corporation delete the tweet and its re-shares within 24 hours or face consequences, warning that non-compliance would trigger “sweeping and across-the-board measures” from the Federal Government.
Observers have linked the move to Nigeria’s strained history with the platform, recalling the 2021 suspension of Twitter, which was only lifted in January 2022.
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