The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Amnesty International (AI) have called on President Bola Tinubu to drop charges against activist Omoyele Sowore, alongside social media giants X and Facebook.
In a joint September 20, 2025, letter, the two organizations expressed concern over what they referred to as a new trend of using court cases by state security agencies as a tool for harassing and intimidating Nigerians.
They tagged accusations against them by the Department of State Services (DSS) under the Cybercrime Act and Criminal Code as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), or legal maneuvers that aim to silence critics.
“The use of SLAPPs has a chilling effect on the exercise of human rights and suppresses the free flow of ideas and information,” the letter stated.
SERAP and Amnesty urged Tinubu to direct the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to withdraw the suit and also propose anti-SLAPP legislation in the National Assembly to protect Nigerians’ freedom of speech.
The groups underscored that public personalities ought to be subjected to greater scrutiny and criticism, threatening criminalizing dissent with danger to democracy. They noted Sowore’s inability to take down posts criticizing Tinubu led to the charges, which they described as part of a broad pattern of intimidation from the state.
They further invoked a similar case against Professor Pat Utomi, who was previously sued in 2025 for allegedly attempting to create a shadow government.
Placing the government on notice for seven days, SERAP and AI warned of legal action in front of the ECOWAS Court of Justice if the accusations were not withdrawn.
“Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of democracy and critical to civil society,” the groups argued, quoting international human rights standards which emphasize that politicians ought to be the target of more criticism than regular citizens.
They again called for Nigeria to decriminalize defamation and cautioned that criminal sanctions for harm to reputation are always disproportionate and susceptible to abuse.
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