Documents Show Secret Police DSS Forged DPP’s Signature To Frame Sowore With Cyberbullying Charges Against Tinubu

acts have emerged on how Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS), forged the signature of a top government prosecutor in order to file criminal charges against fiery human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore.

Court documents seen by SaharaReporters on Wednesday evening confirmed the discrepancies in signature, as shared by Sowore on X.

there are discrepancies between the original signature of M. B. Abubakar, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) at the Federal Ministry of Justice, and the one the DSS presented in the case against Sowore.

Sowore wrote: “It has now emerged that the lawless DSS forged the signature of M. B. Abubakar, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) at the Ministry of Justice in Abuja in order to charge me with their bogus offence of cyberbullying @officialABAT.

“For comparison, here are the real signatures of M. B. Abubakar (DPP) as they appear on the charge sheet in FRN v. Cecil Osakwe & Victor Giwa (2023) and in another recent filing.

“This confirms what many Nigerians already know: the DSS has always been a rogue agency.”

SaharaReporters on Tuesday reported how the Department of State Services (DSS) filed criminal charges against Sowore, at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Also named as the 1st and 2nd defendants in the suit are X Corp. (owners of the social media platform X) and Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook.

Court documents obtained by SaharaReporters on Tuesday show that the DSS filed a five-count charge at the registry of the Federal High Court, accusing Sowore of defaming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by calling him a “criminal.”

The charges, however, have not yet been assigned to any judge.

Also, no date has been fixed for Sowore’s arraignment.

Responding, Sowore also sued the State Security Service (SSS), aka Department of State Services (DSS), Meta (owners of Facebook), and X Corp. (formerly Twitter) at the Federal High Court in Abuja, challenging what he described as unconstitutional censorship of his social media accounts.

It has now emerged that the lawless DSS forged the signature of M. B. Abubakar, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) at the Ministry of Justice in Abuja in order to charge me with their bogus offence of cyberbullying @officialABAT .

For comparison, here are the real… pic.twitter.com/EMM2aVvHfM

— Omoyele Sowore (@YeleSowore) September 17, 2025

In the suit filed on his behalf by his lawyer, Tope Temokun, Sowore asked the court to restrain the DSS from directing global social media platforms to delete his posts, including one in which he referred to President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.”

“These suits were filed to challenge the unconstitutional censorship initiated by the DSS/SSS against Sowore’s accounts maintained with Meta and X,” a statement signed by Temokun on Tuesday had said.

“The lawsuit states categorically that this is about the survival of free speech in Nigeria. If state agencies can dictate to global platforms who may speak and what may be said, then no Nigerian is safe, their voices will be silenced at the whim of those in power.”

He had argued that censorship of political criticism was alien to democracy, citing Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.

“The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in Section 39, guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of expression, without interference. No security agency, no matter how powerful, can suspend or delete those rights,” the statement said.

“Meta and X must also understand this: when they bow to unlawful censorship demands, they become complicit in the suppression of liberty. They cannot hide behind neutrality while authoritarianism is exported onto their platforms.”

The suit seeks declarations that the DSS has no legal authority to censor Nigerians on social media, that Meta and X must not allow their platforms to be used as tools of repression, and that Sowore’s rights and those of other Nigerians be fully protected against unlawful interference.

“We call on all lovers of freedom, journalists, human rights defenders, and the Nigerian people to stand firm. Today it is Sowore; tomorrow it may be you,” it said.

“This struggle is not about personalities. It is about principle. And we shall resist every attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship.”

Sowore, a former presidential candidate, has frequently clashed with security agencies over his criticisms of successive Nigerian governments.

Last Friday, SaharaReporters reported that the DSS had formally written to Sowore, demanding the deletion of the social media posts in which he referred to President Tinubu as a “criminal,” citing the post as “false, malicious, and inciting”.

The agency warned that failure to comply would result in legal action to “protect national security and public order”.

But Sowore didn’t budge. In a public response, he declared that no amount of pressure would compel him to retract his statement.

He stated that his criticism of the government is part of his constitutional duty to hold leaders accountable.

Earlier, the agency petitioned Meta Platforms Inc., owners of Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), urging them to delete Sowore’s posts and deactivate his verified accounts.