Human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has written a formal petition to Meta Platforms Inc., asking the company to turn down a request from Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) seeking to deactivate the Facebook account of activist Omoyele Sowore.
In the letter sent on Monday, the 8th of September, 2025, Effiong described the DSS demand as unlawful, unconstitutional, and a direct assault on the right to freedom of expression.
His petition follows reports that the DSS had approached both Meta and X Inc., demanding the shutdown of Sowore’s accounts on claims that the activist had published ‘unsavoury’ remarks about President Bola Tinubu.
Effiong rejected the agency’s position, insisting the legal authorities cited by the DSS were irrelevant and that none of Sowore’s posts violated Meta’s Community Standards.
“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; an effort predicated on grounds that are legally unfounded in an attempt to undermine Nigeria’s democratic journey and foist tyranny on the country,” he wrote.
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He further accused the DSS of overstepping its mandate by behaving as though it were defending the President personally, when Tinubu himself had not filed any legal challenge against Sowore.
According to Effiong, if the President believed any publication was defamatory, the proper course of action would be to seek remedy in court rather than deploy state security services to silence critics.
The lawyer called on Meta to resist what he described as an “egregious effort” to weaken Nigeria’s democracy and mute opposing voices.
He also cautioned that granting the DSS request would create a dangerous precedent, giving room for deeper government crackdowns on free speech.