Sowore to Meta: Reject DSS Request to Ban My Facebook Account

Omoyele Sowore has urged Meta to reject DSS’ request to deactivate his Facebook account.

Human rights activist and African Action Congress leader, Omoyele Sowore, is pushing back against what his lawyers describe as an “unlawful demand” by Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services – otherwise known as the State Security Service (SSS) – to shut down his Facebook account.Hide trimmed content

In a strongly worded letter dated September 8, 2025, addressed to Meta’s Chief Executive Officer, Sowore’s legal team, led by Inibehe Effiong Chambers, denounced the SSS’s request as an attempt to silence criticism of the Nigerian government.

The SSS had accused Sowore of spreading “misleading information and willful intention to further an ideology capable of serious harm; incitement to violence; cybercrime; [and] hate speech to discredit/disparage the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Rejecting these claims, Sowore’s lawyers argued that the allegations are “unfounded and calculated to silence our Client’s criticism of the government”

Objection-by-Sowore-Request to …

They emphasised that Nigeria’s constitution and international human rights treaties guarantee freedom of expression. The letter pointed out: “Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) guarantees the fundamental right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference.”

Furthermore, the lawyers highlighted that Sowore’s posts do not violate Meta’s community standards. “There is nothing in our Client’s post that is dehumanizing, nor does the post incite violence, harassment, intimidation or related concepts,”they wrote, citing Facebook’s definitions of threats of violence and hateful conduct.

The objection also dismissed the legal provisions cited by the SSS as irrelevant, noting that sedition is no longer an offence under Nigerian law. Quoting a 1985 court ruling, the lawyers recalled: “Criticism is indispensable in a free society.”

Accusing the SSS of acting as a proxy for the Presidency, the lawyers declared: “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 and a public office holder who is paid with public funds.”

Concluding the letter, the legal team urged Meta to reject the government’s request: “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… 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.”