By Abiola Olawale
Prominent human rights groups, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Amnesty International Nigeria have written a letter to President Bola Tinubu, demanding the dropping of cybercrime and defamation charges against human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, alongside techy powerhouses X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
The call was issued in a joint letter signed by both SERAP and Amnesty International.
Signed by SERAP’s deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare and Amnesty Nigeria’s director Isa Sanusi, the letter urged the president to instruct Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to withdraw the case within seven days—or face legal showdowns, including at the ECOWAS Court of Justice.
The letter, read in part: “Your government has the legal obligations to prevent harassment through legal processes against Nigerians peacefully exercising their human rights, and to protect the legitimacy, independence, and impartiality of the hearing of the lawsuit on the Cybercrimes Act pending before the ECOWAS Court.
“The use of SLAPP and criminal defamation lawsuits is incompatible with the fundamental principles of a democratic society, to which Nigeria aspires. Politicians and other public officials and agencies should tolerate a high degree of criticism due to their public position in democratic societies.
“Nigerian authorities not only have a negative obligation to abstain from unduly interfering with human rights but also have a positive obligation to facilitate and protect these rights.
“Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and full enjoyment of this right is central to achieving individual freedom and to developing democracy. It is not only the cornerstone of democracy, but also indispensable to a thriving civil society.
“Any restrictions on human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, must meet the conditions of legality, serve as one of the legitimate purposes expressly provided for in the Nigerian Constitution and human rights treaties, and must be necessary and proportionate to that purpose.
“Nigerian courts and regional human rights courts have consistently held that politicians should expect far greater criticism of their actions and their functioning than ordinary individuals. These courts and other human rights mechanisms have renounced the use of defamation as a legal tool to suffocate dissent.”
The New Diplomat reports that this comes after a controversy erupted from an August 25 social media post by Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters and 2023 presidential candidate for the African Action Congress (AAC).
During Tinubu’s official trip to Brazil, Sowore had criticized the president on X and Facebook, labeling him a “criminal” and mocking claims of zero corruption under his regime.
The Department of State Services (DSS) swiftly responded by filing a five-count charges against Sowore on September 16 at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The charges accused Sowore of allegedly spreading false information, defamation, and inciting public unrest.
X Corp and Meta Inc. (Facebook’s parent) were cited as co-defendants for allegedly enabling the “defamatory” content by refusing to delete the posts despite DSS pressure.
Sowore, undeterred, confirmed the suit on his Facebook page, decrying it as “novel offences they invented.”
