Sowore’s Lawyer Writes Meta, Dismisses DSS Order as “Autocratic” and “Unlawful”

In a firm rebuke of state censorship, Inibehe Effiong, the legal counsel to activist and Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore, has written to Meta Platforms Inc. urging the company to reject a demand from Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) to delete a post or deactivate Sowore’s Facebook account. The demand targeted a post in which Sowore referred to President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.”

The DSS had also instructed Sowore directly to remove the post from his X account and separately wrote to both X and Facebook demanding its deletion. Sowore refused to comply, and X has so far ignored the order.

In his formal response to Meta, the firebrand lawyer dismissed the secret police’s directive as a severe threat to constitutional democracy. Quoting verbatim from the statement, Effiong wrote:

“The autocratic demand by the SSS is not only legally unfounded, it poses serious danger to the sacrosanct and the constitutionally protected right to freedom of expression.”

The letter methodically argues that the laws referenced by the DSS are irrelevant to the case and emphasizes that the post does not breach Meta’s Community Standards.

Effiong’s statement highlights the absence of any legal action taken by President Tinubu himself, questioning the DSS’s role in initiating the complaint:

“It is imperative to state that the President of Nigeria, Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whom the SSS is unlawfully, wrongfully and mischievously holding brief for, has not initiated any legal action against our client. If he feels that he has a reputation capable of being defamed, Mr. Tinubu ought to seek legal redress in court and put his character to the test. It is the height of impunity for an agency established by law to ensure the internal security of Nigeria to sycophantically deploy its instrumentality for the personal aggrandizement of a politician.”

The lawyer framed the DSS’s attempt as part of a broader pattern of silencing dissent, urging Meta not to enable authoritarian overreach:

“We enjoin Meta to see the sinister demand by the SSS for what it truly is: an egregious effort to massage the ego of the Nigerian President; an effort predicated on grounds that are legally unfounded in an attempt to undermine Nigeria’s democratic journey and foist tyranny on the country.”

The letter concludes with a caution about the dangerous precedent compliance would set:

“Acquiescing to the unlawful and draconian demands of the SSS will set a dangerous precedent and also embolden the government to further clamp down on dissenting voices.”

The confrontation underscores escalating tensions between Nigerian authorities and government critics, placing global tech platforms at the center of a growing debate over free speech, democratic values, and digital rights in Africa’s most populous nation.