The African Action Congress has condemned the repeated intimidation and harassment of its former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, by the State Security Service.

In a statement on Monday, the party’s spokesman, Femi Adeyeye, described the SSS petition to X to deactivate Mr Sowore’s account because of his critical post about President Bola Tinubu as “reckless and uncivilized”.

Mr Sowore had in an X post on August 25, criticized President Bola Tinubu’s speech delivered in Brazil, which claimed corruption had ended in Nigeria.

“This criminal @officialABAT actually went to Brazil to state that there is NO MORE corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!” Mr Sowore tweeted.

Following the post, a letter, signed by B. Bamigboye for the director-general of the SSS on September 6, and addressed to the chairman and CEO of X, accused Mr Sowore of spreading “misleading information and willful intention to further an ideology capable of serious harm, incitement to violence, cybercrime, hate speech, and disparagement of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

Faulting the secret police’s partisan disposition, the party said, “What the agency, through their embarrassing letter to X, is telling Nigerians is that it is more interested in throwing punches on behalf of the President and other powerful individuals who can hire it, than to actually fight criminals destabilizing Nigeria.”

He added, “It is clear to us that the SSS, under the Tinubu-led regime, is retracing the exact path of repression and lawlessness we witnessed under the failed Buhari regime; one of arbitrary arrests, trumped-up charges, media blackmail, and desperate attempts to silence dissenting voices.

“Terrorists have been uploading contents like skit makers on Facebook, TikTok and other social media platforms but the SSS has not been able to track them. We’ve also not seen any letter written to the platform owners, demanding the deactivation of these accounts. But when it comes to fearless activists like Sowore, they suddenly find veins in their hands.”

Promising to resist suspected plots to abduct and detain Mr Sowore, the statement warned that the party will not fold its arms to watch President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s false pretenses.

“Omoyele Sowore remains unshaken, and so do we. No matter the plots, intimidation, or blackmail, the African Action Congress and the Nigerian masses will continue to resist tyranny and press forward in the struggle for true freedom and justice in our country,” AAC stated.