Department of State Services (DSS) has formally given world’s richest man Elon Musk’s X.com 24 hours to pull down what it saw as an anti-President Bola Tinubu tweet posted by 2023 presidential candidate and activist, Omoyele Sowore, criticizing Tinubu over a pronouncement the latter made in Brazil that corruption had been eliminated in Nigeria by his administration.
The tweet reads: “This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is NO MORE corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!”
Firing a letter to Musk, who is the Chairman of X.com, Bastrop County, Texas, USA, DSS described the tweet as misleading and a willful intention to advance an ideology capable of serious harm, incitement to violence, a cyber crime, hate speech, to discredit and disparage Tinubu.
The letter, dated Saturday, September 6, 2025, by the DSS Director General (DG), Mr. Oluwatosin Ajayi, was signed on his behalf by Mr. B. Bamigboye.
In it, the DSS issued a 24-hour ultimatum demanding that the tweet be pulled down, claiming that it was capable of causing threat to national security, creating tension and ridiculing Nigeria as a country in the comity of nations.
Detailing other possible effects of the tweet, DSS stated that apart from causing serious embarrassment to President Tinubu’s person, it was capable of creating nationwide chaos.
On the alleged legal infractions made by the tweet, DSS informed Musk that the tweet violates Section 51 of the Criminal Code Act Cap 77 (which prohibits publication of false information); Section 19, 22, and 24 of the Cyber Crime Act 2025 (which prohibits and makes it an offence to spread fake news or publishing content that is misleading or deceptive, posting content that is rude, vulgar, offensive, with intent to humiliate others, provoke ethnic, religious and tribal hatred through online statement).
DSS further informed X.com that the tweet renders the offender and the medium through which the offence was propagated, culpable and criminally liable.
The letter read: “The author and purveyor of the inflammatory online publication against Mr. President is very much aware that the publication is also prohibited by Section 2 of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022 and other relevant Laws of Nigeria.
“It is not in doubt that the words employed by Mr. Omoyele Sowore is misleading information, online harassment and abuse willful intention of furthering an ideology, capable of serious harm, hate speech, cause disunity, discredit the President of Nigeria in the comity of Nations to damage the image of Nigeria and cause threat to National Security of the Country.”
The DSS demanded that the X.com must,in line with its own corporate policy, pull down the tweet and the resultant re-tweet.
DSS added: “This demand is unequivocal with its attendant consequences. Should you fail, neglect and refuse to comply with the command in this notice, the Federal Government of Nigeria will be compelled to take far-reaching sweeping and the across-the-board measures through our organisation, whose mandate cover such Criminal Act.
“In the light of the above. having been make official to you, 24 hours is sufficient enough to take necessary action.”
As of press time, no official response had come from X.com even as some observers believe DSS’ letter should have come from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) alongside the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation.
PHOTO CAPTION: Tinubu (left) and Sowore (right).
