The Department of State Services will arraign Omoyele Sowore, a politician and online publisher, alongside X Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc., before a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday over alleged false claims against President Bola Tinubu.
The arraignment, scheduled to hold before Justice Mohammed Umar, follows a five-count charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025 filed on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) by the DSS.
It was gathered that the charges stemmed from posts made by Sowore on his official X handle, @YeleSowore, and Facebook page in August, in which he allegedly referred to President Tinubu as “a criminal” and accused him of lying about corruption in Nigeria.
The DSS, in the charge filed on Sept. 16, said the posts contravened provisions of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024, and the Criminal Code Act.
The security agency also revealed that, prior to filing the charge, it had formally requested X and Facebook to remove the allegedly offending posts.
According to the charge, Sowore is accused of disseminating false information likely to cause public disorder and of defaming the personality and reputation of President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Bola Tinubu.
One of the counts read: “That you, Omoyele Sowore, on or about the 25th day of August, 2025, did use your official X handle page, @Yele Sowore, to send out a message: ‘This criminal @officialPBAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is no more corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly,’ which you know to be false but posted for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in the country… contrary to Section 24 (1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024.”
Another count accused him of using Facebook on Aug. 26, 2025, to publish the same message, allegedly with intent to cause public fear and disturbance, contrary to Section 59 of the Criminal Code Act.
Sowore, who contested the 2019 and 2023 presidential elections on the platform of the African Action Congress (AAC), is further charged with knowingly publishing defamatory material against the President, contrary to Section 375 of the Criminal Code Act.
The charge also listed X and Facebook as co-defendants for allegedly providing the platforms used to disseminate the contested posts.
