Aisha Yesufu disputes DSS handling of Sowore case

Human rights activist and member of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Aisha Yesufu, has formally challenged the Department of State Services (DSS) over its involvement in the prosecution of activist Omoyele Sowore. She questioned why the security agency became engaged in a case that stemmed from comments made about President Bola Tinubu.

Yesufu made her remarks in response to a DSS statement concerning Sowore’s prosecution and subsequent remand.

The DSS said it had filed charges against Sowore under the Cybercrimes Prohibition, Prevention, Amendment Act of 2024. The charges relate to a social media post in which Sowore allegedly referred to President Tinubu as “this criminal.”

Reacting to the development, Yesufu asked why the security agency had become involved. She argued that any grievance arising from the statement should be pursued directly by the President through legal channels.

“Mr. Sowore, your statement said ‘this criminal’; in what way is it any of your business as an agency?” she asked.

She further maintained that if President Tinubu considered the statement false or defamatory, he should seek redress in court himself rather than involving the DSS.

“If Mr. Tinubu is not a criminal, why would that bother him to the extent of involving your agency? Why would that even trigger him?” she added. “If Mr. Tinubu feels it is not a truthful representation of who he is, why wouldn’t he go to court and sue? What is your business in all of this?”

Yesufu also criticized the agency’s focus on the matter amid the country’s broader security challenges.

“The territorial integrity of Nigeria is under threat. Lives and properties are no longer safe in Nigeria, and all that you focus on is that a citizen of Nigeria referred to Mr. Tinubu as ‘this criminal’?” she said.

In the statement that prompted the reaction, the DSS maintained that Sowore’s remand was the result of court proceedings and insisted that the agency neither arrested him nor opposed his bail.

The agency also stated that it had filed charges seeking judicial interpretation of whether Sowore had the right to allegedly disparage and cyberbully the President through his social media posts.