Sowore Responds, Vows Never to Delete Tweet Alleging Tinubu’s Corruption

Activist and publisher Omoyele Sowore has revealed that social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) officially contacted him regarding a threat letter it received from the Department of State Services (DSS) over one of his recent tweets about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

In a statement on Sunday morning on X, Sowore described the DSS’s action as “despicable” and “lawless,” vowing not to comply with the alleged request to delete the tweet.

“This morning, X (formerly Twitter) officially contacted me about the despicable threat letter they received from the lawless DSS over my Tweet on Tinubu. One option I will NOT be taking is deleting that Tweet,” Sowore wrote.

The letter from X reads;

Hello @YeleSowore,

In the interest of transparency, we are writing to inform you that X has received a request from the Department of State Services regarding your X account, @YeleSowore, that claims the following content violates the law(s) of Nigeria.

@YeleSowore

We have not taken any action on the reported content at this time as a result of this request.

As X strongly believes in defending and respecting the voice of our users, it is our policy to notify our users if we receive a legal request from an authorised entity (such as law enforcement or a government agency) to remove content from their account. We provide notice whether or not the user lives in the country where the request originated. This page provides more information:
help.x.com/en/rules-and-p…

We understand that receiving this type of notice can be an unsettling experience. While X is not able to provide legal advice, we want you to have an opportunity to evaluate the request and, if you wish, take appropriate action to protect your interests. This may include seeking legal counsel and challenging the request in court, contacting relevant civil society organisations, voluntarily deleting the content (if applicable), or finding some other resolution. For more information on legal requests X receives from governments worldwide, please refer to this article on our Help Centre and our biannual Transparency Report:
help.x.com/en/rules-and-p…
transparency.x.com

Sincerely,
X