‎The Federal Government has filed a five-count charge against Omoyele Sowore for calling President Bola Tinubu a “criminal” in a post he shared on social media platforms.

‎ In the charge on Tuesday before the Federal High Court in Abuja through the Director of Public Prosecutions, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. M. B. Abubakar, FG insisted that Sowore committed offences contrary to and punishable under Section 24 (1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024, as well as sections 59 and 375 of the Criminal Code Act.

‎In the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025, FG also cited the two social media platforms where the post was shared: ‘X’ Incorp (formerly Twitter) and Meta Incorp (Facebook) as the 2nd and 3rd defendants.

‎In the post on August 25, Sowore, an activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), had referred to Tinubu as a criminal.

‎It followed a comment which the president made while on an official visit in Brazil where he claimed that his administration had successfully ended corruption in Nigeria.

‎Irked, the Department of State Services, DSS, wrote a letter to the activist to take down the post as well as the two social media platforms to demand a ban on his account.

‎However, seeing as no action was taken by the mentioned defendants, FG filed a charge against them describing the post as aiming to cause a breakdown of law and order in the country, especially among individuals who hold divergent views on President Tinubu’s personality.

‎The charge partly read: “That you, Omoyele Sowore, adult, male, on or about the 25th day of August, 2025, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did use your official X Handle page, @Yele Sowore, to send out a message/ tweet as : “THIS CRIMINAL @ OFFICIAL PBAT ACTUALLY WENT TO BRAZIL TO STATE THAT THERE IS NO MORE CORRUPTION UNDER HIS REGIME IN NIGERIA. WHAT AUDACITY TO LIE SHAMELESSLY”, which you know the said message to be false but posted it for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in the country, especially among individuals who hold divergent views on the personality of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 24 (1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024.

‎“That you, Omoyele Sowore, adult, male, on or about the 26th day of August, 2025, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did use your official Facebook page, Omoyele Sowore, to send out a message/ post as : “THIS CRIMINAL @ OFFICIAL PBAT ACTUALLY WENT To anazit STATE THAT THERE IS NO MORE CORRUPTION UNDER HIS REGIME IN NIGERIA. WHAT AUDACITY TO LIE SHAMELESSLY, ” which you know the said message/post to be false but posted it for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order in the country, especially among individuals who hold divergent views on the personality of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 24 (1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024.

‎“That you, Omoyele Sowore, adult, male on or about the 25th day of August, 2025, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, using the instrumentality of X, via your official X account @Yele Sowore, did knowingly published defamatory material on your online platform viz: “THIS CRIMINAL @ OFFICIAL PBAT ACTUALLY WENT TO BRAZIL TO STATE THAT THERE IS NO MORE CORRUPTION UNDER HIS REGIME IN NIGERIA. WHAT AUDACITY TO LIE SHAMELESSLY”, against the personality and reputation of the President and CommanderinChief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 375 of the Criminal Code Act.”

‎Meanwhile, no date has been fixed for the defendants to be arraigned as FG insists that it would use exhibits including a printout of Sowore’s posts on X and Facebook, as well as the letters DSS wrote to the two platforms to stand its case .

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