The Department of State Services (DSS) has instructed its counsel, Akinolu Kehinde, SAN, to take steps toward suspending the ongoing cybercrime case against African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore until after the 2027 general election.
According to Vanguard, the secret police want the matter paused until after the presidential poll scheduled for January 16, 2027. The move follows the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) decision to lift the ban on presidential campaign activities on August 19, 2026.
A source close to the DSS legal team told Vanguard that the agency’s Director-General, Tosin Ajayi, met with Kehinde and senior officials in the DSS legal directorate on August 20 to discuss suspending the proceedings so Sowore could take part in the election without hindrance. The source said Ajayi argued that since the case had already dragged on in court for nearly a year, delaying it by another four months “would not make much difference.”
The DSS is expected to formally communicate its position on the proposed suspension to the Federal High Court when the court resumes sitting on September 14, 2026, after its annual judicial vacation.
The prosecution stems from social media posts in which Sowore referred to President Bola Tinubu as a criminal. The DSS had given him seven days to take the posts down, and after he refused, the agency approached the court on September 16, 2025, seeking a judicial determination on whether it was lawful to describe the president, or anyone else, as a criminal. The agency has also pointed to an earlier approach to the court over Professor Pat Utomi’s proposed “Shadow Government” as part of its justification, and told Meta in a September 6, 2025 letter that its duty to protect the president extends beyond physical threats to psychological ones.
The case has produced repeated friction between the prosecution and Sowore’s defence team. On August 3, proceedings were disrupted by a heated exchange between DSS counsel Kehinde Akinlolu and Sowore’s lead lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, over the defence’s request for a Certified True Copy of a prosecution witness’s summary report. Akinlolu accused the defence of “dilatory tactics” and asked the court to close the prosecution’s case, while Olumide-Fusika blamed the delay on the court registry’s failure to release already-approved documents. The dispute escalated into accusations of derogatory language before the judge intervened, cautioned both lawyers, and adjourned the matter to September 20 for continuation of the defence’s case.
Earlier, on July 28, the defence had opposed the unexpected appearance of Attorney-General of the Federation Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, who intervened in connection with a subpoena issued to DSS Director-General Tosin Ajayi, expected to testify for the defence. The defence challenged the Attorney-General’s basis for intervening, while Fagbemi insisted he had constitutional authority to take over or intervene in criminal proceedings. The court ultimately directed that a representative appear on the Director-General’s behalf instead.
Sowore reacts, calls it a victory
Sowore has since mocked the DSS over the proposed suspension, describing it in a post on X as a victory for resistance and accusing the security agency of being forced to back down after initially pursuing the case.
“Lawless DSS Learns a Bitter Lesson: Resistance Prevails, and Our Resolve Remains Unbroken!” Sowore wrote, invoking Martin Luther King Jr.’s line that “a man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.”
He argued that the suspension vindicated his long-standing position that the case was “an exercise in futility,” and accused the agency of trying to use the legal process to intimidate him. Framing the case as part of a decades-long struggle, Sowore said he had “remained standing, resisting, organizing, and fighting” through military rule, the Buhari years, and now the Tinubu administration.
He also renewed a set of demands: that the DSS withdraw the charge against him entirely, apologise for what he called an abuse of power, and comply with court orders on the payment of ₦3 million in fines. He further called on the agency to return a phone and drone he said were unlawfully seized from his assistant, Zainab Sodiq.
“Our struggle remains firm. Our resolve is unbroken. We are unstoppable,” he said.
The proposed suspension comes with the trial still at the defence stage, as Sowore prepares to campaign as the AAC’s presidential candidate in the 2027 election.
