‘Defamation’: DSS Arraigns Sowore on alleged Cybercrime Offences

The Department of State Services (DSS), on Tuesday arraigned publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, before a Federal High Court in Abuja, for alleged cybercrimes.

The DSS had called out Sowore, in August, over his tweets which described President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.”

Sowore had been asked to pull down the tweet, but he refused, following which the secret police filed legal action against him.

At the court, on Tuesday, Sowore was granted bail on self‑recognizance but Justice Mohammed Umar barred him from further making statements that were “detrimental to the peace and security of the country”.

The judge threatened to revoke the bail granted Sowore should he ever make such statements.

The arraignment came after two previous attempts, with the politician’s lawyer introducing what the DSS lawyer, Akinolu Kehinde SAN, called legal obstacles.

On Tuesday, however, Justice Umar held that since there was evidence that Sowore was a presidential candidate in the country before and having also earlier been granted bail by the court, with his international passport still being held by the court, he was entitled to be granted bail on self-recognition.

The ruling was on a bail application argued by his lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, shortly after Sowore was arraigned on a five-count charge, in which he is accused of defaming President Bola Tinubu by referring to him as a criminal in his posts on X and Facebook.

When the charge, being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS), was read to him, Sowore pleaded not guilty.

In the charge, Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 and 2023 elections, is accused of contravening the provisions of the the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024 and the Criminal Code Act by calling President Bola Tinubu a criminal

The two other defendants listed in the charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025 are X Incorp (formerly Twitter) and Meta (Facebook) Incorp.

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