Posted by Chinenye on Wed 24th Jun, 2026 - tori.ng
The Department of State Services has clarified its position on the remand of activist Omoyele Sowore, stating that the development resulted from court proceedings rather than direct action by the agency.
(Omoyele Sowore. Photo Credit; Vangaurd News)
The Department of State Services has distanced itself from the remand of activist and publisher Omoyele Sowore at Kuje Custodial Centre, insisting the development arose entirely from court proceedings and not from any action taken by the agency.
In a statement signed by Deputy Director of Public Relations and Strategic Communications Favour Dozie, the DSS said its Director-General, Adeola Ajayi, had ordered an immediate investigation into the conduct of operatives seen in footage from the Federal High Court in Abuja on June 22, where Sowore was involved in an altercation with an official of the Nigerian Correctional Service and an apparent scuffle with DSS personnel.
The agency acknowledged that Sowore eventually chose to enter a DSS vehicle rather than one belonging to the Correctional Service following the incident, but maintained that his remand resulted from the court's own processes.
"From the foregoing, it is clear that the issues which led to the revocation of his bail and his subsequent remand arose entirely from court processes, as the Service neither arrested him nor opposed his bail application," the statement read.
The DSS traced the case to August 2025, when Sowore made social media posts about President Bola Tinubu following remarks attributed to the president during a visit to Brazil.
Rather than arr£sting him, the agency said it wrote to him in September 2025 requesting a retraction within one week, reflecting what it described as the current Director-General's preference for dialogue and legal channels over coercive action.
Charges were subsequently filed against Sowore under Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024, to allow the court determine whether his comments about the president violated the law.
To further support its claim of favouring legal redress, the DSS cited several precedents, including its decision to seek judicial clarification without making any arr£st over Professor Pat Utomi's Shadow Government initiative, which a Federal High Court subsequently declared unconstitutional.
It also referenced cases involving alleged invasions of the Lagos State House of Assembly and the National Assembly Complex, where it pursued public apologies rather than arr£sts, and defamation suits filed by two of its operatives against SERAP, which courts ruled in their favour.
The agency stressed that Sowore had been granted bail on self-recognition at the start of his trial without the requirement of a surety, and that the DSS had not opposed the application a fact, it noted, that Sowore himself had publicly welcomed at the time.