Omoyele Sowore, a human rights advocate and former presidential candidate, has denied the Department of State Services’ (DSS) request to take down a social media post that was critical of President Bola Tinubu.
According to Sowore, DSS has no right to dictate to him how to critique the President.
“You have no right to dictate to me how I should critique the President. However, it’s obvious that you haven’t learned your lessons given the nature of your service. Let me reiterate: Nigerians are steadfast in their resolve to retake their nation from those in positions of power. And it will be accomplished. Struggle is the path to freedom. “Victoria ascerta, aluta continua,” Sowore uttered.
Sowore rejected the agency’s request as illegal and an attempt to serve as a stand-in for the president in a letter to the director general of the DSS.
Recounting multiple incidents of alleged rights violations that began when he was a student leader in the 1990s, Sowore claimed that the DSS had a lengthy history of repression against him.
He mentioned his detention on charges of treason and money laundering, his arrests in 1993, 1996, and 2019, and the invasion of a Federal High Court during his trial.
He claimed that the DSS’s attempt to demand a retraction on Tinubu’s behalf was “fundamentally defective” and unconstitutional, accusing it of acting “bullishly, illegally, and unlawfully” under previous administrations.
“For decades, the DSS has shamelessly dragged me through egregious rights violations and unscrupulous abuse,” Sowore wrote.
He made the case that freedom of speech safeguards people’s ability to criticize public officials by citing African human rights treaties and constitutional provisions. He stated that the DSS cannot pursue defamation on behalf of the president because it is a personal matter.
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