CITIZENS COMPASS—The Department of State Services (DSS) has reacted to a post which condemned the statement by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that his administration has fought corruption to a standstill in Nigeria.
Tinubu made the statement during his State visit to Brazil.
However, the former Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress(AAC), Omowole Sowore, condemned the statement on his X Handle.
The federal government of Nigeria has taken decisive steps against the as DSS has petitioned X Corp over the post.
DSS demanded the immediate takedown of the post.
Sowore shared the post on August 25, 2025 where he criticised Tinubu’s statement during the state visit.
“This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is no more corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!”
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 willful attempt to further an ideology.
The intelligence agency told X Corp the tweet is 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 reads, “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 Mr. President and the country before the comity of nations.
“The tweet under reference is against the transparency on X and the government has frowned at it and found it extremely dangerous, false, privacy violation behaviour that manipulates and negatively impacts on the person of the President and the country.”
The DSS cited several Nigerian laws it said the post violated, including Section 51 of the Criminal Code Act, provisions of the Cyber Crimes Act 2025 and Section 2(3) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
It said the post contravenes “Sections 19,22 and 24 of the Cyber Crimes Act 2025 which prohibits and makes it an offence to spread fake news or publishing content, especially with the intent to embarrass or humiliate others, provoke ethnic, religious, or tribal hatred through online or offline terrorism.”
It added, “It is not in doubt that the words employed by Mr. Omoyele Sowore is misleading information, online harassment and abuse, willful intention of furthering an ideology capable of serious harm, hate speech, cause disunity, discredit/disparage the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria within the Comity of Nations to damage the image of Nigeria and cause serious threat to national security of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The agency asked X Corp. to take the tweet and related re-tweets down within 24 hours.
“It is against the above highlighted backdrop that we make an immediate and urgent demand on your corporation to, as a matter of its own policy, immediately take down the tweet and its attendant re-tweets,” it added.
DSS that should X “fail to comply with the command, the Federal Government will be compelled to take far-reaching, sweeping and across-the-board measures.”
Meanwhile, Sowore in another post said he would not delete the content from his X Handle.
“This morning, X (formerly Twitter) officially contacted me about the despicable threat letter they received from the lawless @OfficialDSSNG over my Tweet BELOW on Tinubu. One option I will NOT be taking is deleting that Tweet. Thank you, @X”
