By Soni Daniel
The Department of State Services (DSS) has suspended the prosecution of the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, over alleged cyber-bullying until after the 2027 general elections.
The DSS has reportedly directed its private counsel, Akinolu Kehinde, to take steps to suspend the case instituted against Sowore.
The development comes nearly a year after the DSS approached the court to determine whether Sowore could use his Facebook and X accounts to refer to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a “criminal” in a post published on August 25, 2025.
The secret police had said the case was intended to seek judicial interpretation on the propriety of describing the President or any individual as a criminal, similar to its earlier move seeking a court pronouncement on the legality of Professor Pat Utomi’s “Shadow Government.”
In a letter dated September 6, 2025, addressed to the chairman of Meta Corporation, the DSS stated that, in addition to protecting the President from physical threats, it was also empowered by law to protect him from psychological attacks.
Following Sowore’s posts, the DSS reportedly gave him seven days to remove them. However, after he failed to comply with the directive, the agency approached the court on September 16, 2025, seeking adjudication.
A source close to the DSS counsel disclosed that the Director-General of the service, Tosin Ajayi, met with the senior lawyer and top officials of the DSS Legal Directorate on August 20, a day after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officially lifted the ban on presidential campaigns.
According to the source, the meeting considered pausing the case to enable Sowore to fully exercise his constitutional right to contest the 2027 presidential election.
“The DSS boss reportedly told the Senior Advocate and his directorate of legal services that, with the commencement of presidential campaigns, it would only be fair to pause the court case in order to enable Sowore fully participate in the upcoming elections without let or hindrance,” the source said.
The source added that Ajayi told the lawyers that the case had already been in court for nearly a year and that suspending it for another four months would not make much difference.
The source said the DSS’s decision to suspend the case is expected to be formally communicated to the Federal High Court from Monday, September 14, 2026, when the court is scheduled to resume normal sittings after its annual judicial vacation.
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