Nigeria’s secret service has hauled a 27-year-old social media influencer before the courts, accusing him of fomenting sedition through incendiary online posts that urged the army to seize power and dismantle the ruling party, in a case that has stoked fears of a chilling clampdown on free expression.
Innocent Chukwuemeka Onukwume, from Umusayo Layout in Rivers State’s Oyigbo district, faces six counts under the Criminal Code Act and the amended Cybercrimes Act for content posted on his verified X handle @theagroman in October 2025.
The Department of State Services (DSS) alleges the posts, which decried economic hardships and President Bola Tinubu’s leadership, breached laws on incitement and cyber offences by calling for the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s dissolution, government suspension, and military intervention.
One post read: “A coup in Nigeria is needed. Dispose of APC, suspend the Nigerian government and join the AES. That is all we need now,” referring to the Alliance of Sahel States.a6b5b2 Another blasted: “It will happen eventually, Nigerian. The military needs your support now! Only they can save this country. The bastard in Aso Rock has basically sold this country to the West and they run our intelligence apparatus only the military can reset this country.”
Onukwume further scorned electoral remedies, stating: “Tinubu has to go and APC has to die for Nigeria to have any semblance of normal life. And if you think your stupid votes can remove Tinubu, I’m here to tell you that you’re a fool.”
Filed Tuesday under case FHC/ABJ/CR/610/2025 at the Federal High Court, the charges invoke Sections 46A(1) and 59(1) of the Criminal Code and 24(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes Act, with arraignment slated for later this week.
The probe echoes October reports of a purported military coup plot against Tinubu, swiftly debunked by the Defence Headquarters as “baseless” with no arrests or schemes detected.
The move has ignited backlash from lawyers, activists and ex-generals, who decry it as an assault on dissent amid swelling public ire over inflation and insecurity. Civil society voices warn the prosecution could muzzle online activism, while Onukwume’s camp has yet to comment.
