The Department of State Services (DSS) has requested that X Corp. take down a tweet posted by popular activist Omoyele Sowore criticising President Bola Tinubu.
Taking to its X account on Saturday, the DSS stated that Sowore’s tweet disparaged the president and posed a threat to national security.
Sowore had, on August 25, shared a video of Tinubu during a state visit to Brazil, lambasting him over his comment on corruption no longer existing in Nigeria.
“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!” Sowore’s post reads.
In a letter to X signed by B. Bamigboye on behalf of the Director-General, State Services, the DSS said the post is false, calling it online harassment.
“The said tweet is still in circulation and has attracted widespread condemnation by the 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 manipulate and negatively impacts on the person of the President and the country,” the DSS said.
“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.
“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.
