Inibehe Effiong, a human rights attorney, has petitioned Meta Platforms Inc. to deny Nigeria’s Department of State Services, or DSS, a request to deactivate activist Omoyele Sowore’s Facebook account.
Effiong described the DSS demand as illegal, unconstitutional, and a danger to the right to free speech in the letter he sent to Meta on Monday.
The petition follows DSS’s letter to X incorporated and Meta, two major social media companies, requesting that Sowore’s accounts be deactivated.
The State agency had accused the activist of defaming the Nigerian President by posting “unsavoury” things about him.
The lawyer however, countered that Sowore’s post did not violate Meta’s Community Standards and that the statutes referenced by the DSS in its petition were unrelated.
“We enjoin Meta to see the sinister demand by the SSS for what it truly is: an egregious effort to massage the ego of the Nigerian President; an effort predicated on grounds that are legally unfounded in an attempt to undermine Nigeria’s democratic journey and foist tyranny on the country,” he said.
Effiong claimed that President Bola Tinubu had not filed a lawsuit against Sowore and accused the DSS of pretending to be working on his behalf.
He insisted that rather than using security forces to intimidate opponents, Tinubu should go to court if he felt wronged by any publication.
The legal counsel urged Meta to oppose the DSS’s “egregious effort” to stifle dissenting opinions and threaten Nigeria’s democracy.
He cautioned that granting the agency’s request would create a risky precedent and give the government the confidence to repress free speech in the future.
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