‘Nigeria is down’ – Sowore kicks as DSS reportedly screens SAN designates

Activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, has condemned the Department of State Security Service’s planned screening of the new Senior Advocate of Nigeria designates.

He made his condemnation known in a statement in his X account on Tuesday.

This comes as a senior advocate of Nigeria, Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, had on Monday raised an alarm over the development.

Akinboro described the situation as illegal and an attempt to truncate the independence of the country’s legal profession.

Reacting, Sowore decried the collapse of courage in Nigeria.

“Nigerians, at nearly every level, have capitulated, weighed down by the sheer force of their individual and collective weaknesses.

“The collapse of courage and conviction is everywhere you look.

“Imagine the @OfficialDSSNG now screening Senior Advocates of Nigeria. The so-called guardians of justice are reduced to seeking clearance from the very instruments of oppression. C’est fini. Nigeria is down!” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile, the DSS neither confirmed nor denied the claim as of the time of filling this report.

Recall that in July 2025, the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) named 57 legal practitioners as candidates for elevation to SAN.