The Department of State Services (DSS) has instructed its private counsel – Akinolu Kehinde (SAN) – to seek the suspension of its alleged cyber-bullying case against African Action Congress (AAC) standard-bearer, Omoyele Sowore, until after the January 16, 2027 presidential election.
The DSS had approached the court to determine whether Sowore’s August 25, 2025 posts on his X handle and Facebook page, in which he referred to President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal”, amounted to cyber-bullying.
The secret police said the case was intended to obtain judicial interpretation on the propriety of describing President Tinubu or any other individual as a criminal without due process.
The DSS said the matter is similar to its earlier approach to the court seeking a ruling on the legality of Professor Pat Utomi’s “Shadow Government”.
The service’s latest position means the cyber-bullying case could be put on hold until after the 2027 presidential election.
The DSS, in a September 6, 2025, letter to the chairman of Meta Corp, stated that, aside from protecting the President from physical threats, it is also, by law, empowered to protect him from psychological attacks.
After Sowore’s posts, the DSS gave him seven days to pull them down. At the expiration of the ultimatum, and the politician still refused to pull down the posts, the secret police, without inviting or arresting him, on September 16, 2025, approached the court for adjudication.
A source close to the DSS lawyer, disclosed that the Director General, Mr. Tosin Ajayi, met with the senior lawyer and top officers of the DSS’ legal directorate on August 20, a day after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officially lifted the ban on presidential campaigns, to consider pausing the court case to enable Sowore fully exercise his right to contest the upcoming 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,” disclosed the source.
He added: “The DSS boss told the lawyers that, since the matter had been in court for nearly a year, suspending it for another four months wouldn’t make much difference.”
The source added that the position of the DSS on suspending the matter with Sowore is expected to be formally communicated to the Federal High Court from Monday, September 14, 2026, when the court is expected to resume normal sittings after returning from annual judicial vacation.