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The Presidential Candidate of the African Congress (AAC) in the 2023 election, Omoyle Sowore, has rejected the request reported by the State Service Department (DSS) to erase social media posts that criticize the President of Bola Tinubu.
Sowore said on Sunday that X (previously Twitter) had officially told him that DSS had submitted a legal request that demanded the abolition of his position.
“This morning, X officially contacted me about the despicable threat that they received from DSS Lawless on my tweet at Tinubu. One of the options that I would not take was to delete the tweet. Thank you, @x,” Sowore wrote in his handle, @yelesowore.
He also shared messages from X who confirmed the reception of DSS requests.
The platform tells Sowore that, although DSS claims its content violates Nigerian law, no action is taken.
Notification from X Read: “Because X strongly believes in defending and respecting the voice of our users, it is our policy to tell our users if we receive legal requests from the entity authorized to delete content from their accounts. We have not taken any action on the content reported at this time.”
X further advised Sowore to consider legal options or seek advice, asserting that users have the right to challenge the request in court or involve civil society organizations.
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Sowore, who is also a publisher of the Sahara journalist, has become a persistent critic of the Nigerian administration.
He previously competed for the 2019 and 2023 presidential elections and had led several pro-democratic campaigns.
DSS, the Nigerian Domestic Intelligence Agency, is often accused by groups of rights targeting the votes of opposition and limiting freedom of expression.
Sowore was arrested in 2019 for the “Revolutionnow” movement and was detained for several months even though there was a court order that gave him a guarantee.
Nigeria has a history of controversial involvement with social media platforms.
In 2021, the Federal government forbade Twitter for several months after the platform removed the tweet by the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, citing national security issues.
Sowore insisted on Sunday that his criticism of the Tinubu government was right in his rights that were guaranteed constitutionally and accused DSS trying to silence differences of opinion through intimidation.
