Amnesty To DSS: You Can’t Tell Sowore What To Say, Stop Harassing Him

Global Human rights body, Amnesty International, AI,  has condemned the Department of State Services, DSS, over what it described as the harassment of Omoyele Sowore, Publisher of Sahara Reporters.

The rights body said in  statement on Thursday that DSS demand to Facebook and X to delete Sowores’ posts, describing President Tinubu as a criminal, is a plot to silent him, saying the action negates the international Human Rights Convention signed by the federal government.

The magazine had reported that the DSS has also charged Sowore to court for alleged criminal defamation of the president, as the Sahara Reporters Publisher also branded the charged sheet to have been forged by the Nigerian Secret police.

According to the state release today , Amnesty said it’s wrong for DSS to subject Sowore to another trial, describing the action as a censorship, and abuse of power on the part of the federal government.

The federal government, it said,  lacks power  “to determine what can or cannot be said’ by Nigerians, bemoaning the recent attempt by the administration to clamp down on users of social media in the country.

The statement: “The Nigerian authorities’ consistent and relentless attempts to silence human rights activist Omoyele Sowore must end now.

“The latest attempts to gag him following an appalling demand by the Department of State Service (DSS) for the deactivation of his X and Facebook accounts go too far. The fresh attempt to put him through another unfair trial based on bogus charges is outrageous and clearly show a desperate attempt at censorship and abuse of power.

“The DSS targeting of Sowore’s use of social media platforms is being done without any legal justification recognised under international human rights law and represents a violation of Nigeria’s obligations under the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Nigeria has ratified both human rights treaties.

“It is not up to any government to determine what can or cannot be said. Over the last ten years, the Nigerian authorities’ campaign of repression often results in the harassment, intimidation, prosecution and imprisonment of people for their social media use. This pattern of repression and intimidation is creating a situation whereby in Nigeria, people will be terrified about speaking their minds.”

The magazine reported that the latest clash between Sowore and DSS started after the journalist branded Tinubu as a corrupt leader, following a remark made by the president, during his recent visit to Brazil that his government has ended corruption in the country.