Rights groups Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Amnesty International Nigeria have called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately order the withdrawal of cybercrime charges filed against activist and Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore.
The groups, in a joint letter dated September 20 and signed by SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, and Amnesty International Nigeria Director, Isa Sanusi, also demanded that the Federal Government halt what they described as the “weaponisation of the justice system” to muzzle critics.
Sowore, alongside tech giants X Corp and Meta Platforms (owners of Facebook), is currently facing a five-count charge lodged by the Department of State Services (DSS) at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The case, filed on September 16, accuses Sowore of cyberstalking, criminal defamation, causing public fear and disturbance after he allegedly refused to delete social media posts critical of President Tinubu.
The rights groups condemned the charges, warning that they amount to SLAPP lawsuits (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) designed to intimidate and silence dissent.
“The use of SLAPP and criminal defamation lawsuits by security agencies poses serious risks to democracy and the rule of law,” the groups said. “It is inconsistent with the Nigerian Constitution and international human rights obligations.”
They reminded President Tinubu of his Democracy Day speech in June where he declared, “We dare not seek silence because the imposed silence of repressed voices breeds chaos and ill will… Call me names, call me whatever you will, and I will still call upon democracy to defend your right to do so.”
Citing a 2022 ruling of the ECOWAS Court, which outlawed the use of Section 24 of the Cybercrime Act to prosecute citizens for “insulting public officials online,” SERAP and Amnesty stressed that the charges against Sowore violate Nigeria’s regional obligations.
The letter also highlighted other recent cases of alleged judicial harassment, including the DSS’ lawsuit against Professor Pat Utomi in May, accusing him of plotting to form a “shadow government,” and a 2024 case against SERAP itself.
The organisations gave the Tinubu administration seven days to act, warning that failure to withdraw the charges would force them to pursue “all appropriate legal actions, including before the ECOWAS Court of Justice.”
Confirming the charges in a Facebook post earlier this week, Sowore wrote:
“The DSS today filed a 5-count charge against X, Facebook, and myself. They claimed that because I called Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu a criminal, I have somehow committed a set of ‘novel’ offences they invented.”
Observers say the case could set a major precedent for free speech in Nigeria, especially at a time when rights groups accuse security agencies of clamping down on political dissent and online expression.
