By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by an activist, Omoyele Sowore, against the Department of State Services (DSS), its Director General and Meta Platforms Incorporated (formerly Facebook).
The judgment was delivered by Justice Mohammed Umar on Thursday, April 2, who dismissed the suit for lacking in merit.
Justice Umar resolved the three issues identified for determination against Sowore and declined to grant any of the reliefs sought.
Sowore had claimed that the decision of Meta Incorporated, acting on the instruction of the DSS and its DG, to take down a post he made calling President Bola Tinubu a criminal and to deactivate his Facebook account without hearing from him contravened his rights to a fair hearing, to freedom of expression and to associate.
The activist had, on August 26, 2025, published a post on his Facebook account in which he referred to President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.”
In resolving the first issue claimed by Sowore, Justice Umar held that Sowore wrongly made an allegation of contravention of his right to a fair hearing against the three respondents.
The judge held that the claims made by Sowore against the respondents did not relate to a fair hearing, which the law, under the fundamental rights enforcement procedure, envisaged.
“The law is that, to seek to enforce fundamental right to fair hearing provided under Chapter four of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the alleged violation must be in respect of proceedings before a court or tribunal established by law.
“There would be no case of infringement of the right to fair hearing under Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution when the decision alleged to have violated one’s constitutional right to fair hearing is that of a non-judicial body.
“In the instant case, the alleged violation of the right to fair hearing of the applicant (Sowore) was made against the respondents, which was not contemplated under Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution as explained by judicial authorities.
“In the light of the above, it is my holding here that fair hearing is not applicable to the instant case,” he said.
Justice Umar, in resolving the second issue, held that the complaint made by the DSS and its DG about Sowore’s August 26, 2025, Facebook post and the decision by Meta Incorporated to take the post down and deactivate his account did not amount to violations of his rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association, guaranteed under sections 39 and 40 of the Constitution.
The judge further held that the rights to freedom of expression and association, like all other constitutionally guaranteed rights, are not absolute.
He said, “It is to be noted that the protection of rights and reputation of others is one of the instances where the right to freedom of expression can be curtailed.
“Expression can be restricted to protect the rights, reputation, or privacy of others. This is to say, where an expression is meant to disparage an individual or group of individuals, the law will not allow it.
“This is to say, the law will frown at any expression that will cast aspersion on others in the name of expressing the constitutional right to freedom of expression.
“This is the rationale behind the derogation of the fundamental rights under Section 45 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”
Justice Umar added that the DSS and its DG, in complaining to Meta Incorporated that Sowore’s post violated Nigeria’s laws, did not violate his (Sowore’s) rights, but only took the right step to use Facebook reporting channels to report the post of the applicant.
In resolving issue three, which is whether the applicant is entitled to the reliefs sought, Justice Umar stated that the reliefs sought by the applicant are declaratory in nature, and the applicant is under a duty to succeed by the strength of his case.
He said, “A careful perusal of the deposition of the applicant in the affidavit in support of the application, the applicant has failed to convince this court that his rights as guaranteed under Sections 36(1), 39, and 41 have been or are likely to be threatened by the respondents.
“This court is of the firm view that the applicant is not entitled to any of the reliefs sought, and I so hold. On the whole, I find no merit in this application, and it is hereby dismissed.”
The judge also awarded a cost of N1.5 million against Sowore, at N500,000 to each of the three respondents in the suit, following applications for cost made by counsel to the DSS and its DG, Akinlolu Kehinde and counsel to Meta Incorporated, Victoria Bassey.
