The Department of State Services (DSS) has urged X.com to immediately take down a tweet posted by activist and politician, Omoyele Sowore, disparaging Bola Tinubu over a statement the President made in Brazil that corruption in Nigeria has ended under his government.

On August 25, Sowore had through his verified X account @YeleSowore, shared a video of Tinubu during a state visit to Brazil, and criticised the President’s comment that corruption is no more in Nigeria.

But in a letter dated September 6, 2025, and signed by B. Bamigboye on behalf of the Director-General, State Services, the DSS described the post as false, online harassment and a wilful attempt to further an ideology.

The intelligence agency told X.com that the tweet was directed at the President through his official known X handle @officialABAT. It warned that the publication could provoke unrest among some Nigerians, including supporters of the President.

The letter, addressed to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of X.com, Bastrop Country, Texas, United States (U.S.), read in part: “The said tweet is still in circulation and has attracted widespread condemnation by majority of Nigerians, some of whom may resort to unwholesome activities to vent their grievance over it, especially supporters of the President who have started taking to the streets in protest, thereby creating political tension and threatening the country’s national security.

“This is in addition to the disparaging effect the tweet has on the reputation of the President and the country before the comity of nations. “The tweet, under reference, is against the transparency on X and the government has frowned on it and found it extremely dangerous, false, privacy violation behaviour that manipulates and negatively impacts the person of the President and the country.”

Meanwhile, Sowore has written to X (formerly Twitter), countering a demand by the DSS for the deletion of one of his posts and the deactivation of his account.

Sowore’s legal team, which authored the letter on his behalf, yesterday, described the request sent to X.com as “unlawful, unconstitutional, and without legal foundation.”

The letter by Sowore’s lawyers, led by human rights lawyer, Tope Temokun, stated: “We write to formally state that such a request is unlawful, unconstitutional, and without legal foundation.”

Temokun emphasised that no administrative agency, including the DSS, has the authority to censor citizens or compel private platforms to remove content, and only a valid court order can justify any restriction.

HOWEVER, Amnesty International has berated the DSS over the post deletion.In the statement, AI noted that the Nigerian authorities’ demand for the deactivation of Sowore’s X account goes too far, and is outrageous, while clearly showing a desperate attempt at censorship and abuse of power.

Also, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on Tinubu to order the DSS to withdraw threats to ban the social media platform X over the comments by Sowore.

SERAP argued that any restriction on online speech must meet strict requirements of legality, necessity, proportionality and legitimacy under both Nigerian and international law.

It added that the UN Human Rights Committee had made clear that public officials are “legitimately subject to criticism and political opposition.”