An investigating officer with the Department of State Services (DSS), Michael Jego, has told a Federal High Court in Abuja that social media posts by human rights activist and SaharaReporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, describing President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal” had the potential to threaten national security.
Jego gave the testimony on Monday after Justice Mohammed Umar rejected Sowore’s application seeking to compel DSS Director-General, Oluwatosin Ajayi, to personally appear in court as a defence witness.
The investigator told the court that he was part of the DSS team that flagged the controversial posts published by Sowore on X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook on August 26, 2025.
He said the agency subsequently advised Sowore to retract the posts, which also accused Tinubu of lying about the level of corruption in Nigeria.
Jego further testified that he was a member of the team that monitored public reactions to the posts.
His testimony followed the court’s ruling dismissing the defence’s request to compel Ajayi to appear personally to give evidence concerning the agency’s activities in the case.
Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), had, through his lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), asked the court to order the DSS chief to testify in connection with the case.
However, DSS counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, opposed the application, arguing that the matters on which the director-general was expected to testify concerned official duties of the agency and were not personal to him.
Kehinde maintained that another authorised officer with sufficient knowledge of the relevant matters could testify on behalf of the service.
Delivering his ruling, Justice Umar agreed with the prosecution, holding that the expected testimony concerned official acts and engagements of the DSS rather than the personal affairs of its director-general.
The judge consequently ruled that another DSS official could appear to give evidence on behalf of the agency.
Following the decision, Sowore’s defence team called Jego as its third defence witness.
The case stems from the DSS prosecution of Sowore over his social media posts in which he allegedly described Tinubu as a “criminal” and accused the President of misrepresenting the level of corruption in the country.
