African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has accused operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) of secretly tracking his movements in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, alleging that an electronic tracking device was discovered underneath a security vehicle used by his team.
Sowore made the allegation on Tuesday while attending the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, claiming that the alleged surveillance followed his appearance at a gathering organised by the Kay Hikers group.
According to the AAC presidential candidate, he and his associates became suspicious after noticing what he described as “strange movements” around them.
He said the team subsequently decided to switch vehicles, a move which allegedly led to the discovery of an electronic device attached underneath the security vehicle they had been using.
“The lawless @OfficialDSSNG has apparently been tracking my movements since I arrived in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for the Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference,” Sowore wrote on X.
“After my speech at the Kay Hikers gathering, we noticed some strange movements and decided to switch vehicles. That was when we discovered an electronic tracking device attached underneath the security vehicle we had used that night.
“They are really scared!”
Sowore also posted a video purportedly showing the electronic device recovered from underneath the vehicle.
However, there was no independent evidence contained in Sowore’s post establishing that the device was planted by DSS operatives. The agency had also not publicly confirmed responsibility for the alleged surveillance at the time of filing this report.
The allegation comes amid Sowore’s increasingly confrontational relationship with the Nigerian government and security agencies as he prepares to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Sowore has remained one of the most vocal critics of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, repeatedly attacking government policies and accusing political leaders of worsening the economic hardship confronting Nigerians.
His latest allegation came shortly after he addressed the NBA conference in Port Harcourt, where he launched a blistering attack on several prominent Nigerian politicians, including former Rivers State Governor and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi.
Amaechi is the vice presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), while Obi is the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
Sowore used his appearance at the conference to defend his long-standing opposition to the removal of fuel subsidies and accuse political leaders of changing their positions on the controversial policy.
“If there’s anyone who has been consistent about not removing our subsidies, it has been me. And it took Amaechi and his principal (Atiku Abubakar) almost 10 years to catch up with me,” he said.
“They have now reversed their position on subsidies.”
He argued that the central question surrounding fuel subsidy should be who actually benefits from government intervention, insisting that the burden of subsidy removal had ultimately fallen on ordinary Nigerians.
“The question about subsidies is: Who are you subsidising? You are subsidising the elite. You are subsidising the government,” Sowore said.
He further accused state governments of being among the major beneficiaries of increased federal allocations following the removal of the petrol subsidy.
“The only people who are doing well since they removed subsidies are the governments of states,” he said.
Sowore also criticised successive administrations for repeatedly removing subsidies while promising Nigerians that the economy would improve.
“I was a student in 1988. And in 1989, they removed subsidies. In 1990, they removed subsidies. They said Nigeria will be better.
“We are in 2026. They are still removing subsidies,” he said.
The AAC presidential candidate also turned his criticism towards the Tinubu administration, accusing the government of shifting the consequences of its economic policies onto Nigerians.
“They are robbing Peter Obi to pay for Bola Tinubu,” he said.
Sowore then challenged political leaders seeking to return to power to account for their previous records in government.
Taking aim at Amaechi, he questioned the former governor’s handling of the railway project initiated during his tenure as governor of Rivers State.
“We have a former governor, Rivers State, Amaechi, who built the railway line that went nowhere,” Sowore said.
“If that rail line was working, subsidy would have been working for the people of Rivers State.”
He also criticised Obi’s tenure as governor of Anambra State, alleging that workers in the education and health sectors endured prolonged industrial action during his administration.
“Peter Obi did not subsidise education in his state. Lecturers and doctors went on strike for 13 months,” Sowore said.
“You may like him as a person, but he did not perform as a governor.”
The renewed confrontation comes against the backdrop of Sowore’s ongoing legal battle with the DSS at the Federal High Court in Abuja over social media posts concerning President Tinubu.
Sowore was charged with offences including cyberstalking, cyberbullying and criminal defamation under Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act after an August 2025 post in which he referred to Tinubu as a “criminal”.
Meta and X were later removed from the case, leaving Sowore as the sole defendant.
As the 2027 presidential contest begins to take shape, Sowore continues to position himself as an alternative to Nigeria’s established political class, attacking both the ruling government and opposition figures over their records, policies and political positions.
His allegation of being tracked by DSS operatives is likely to generate further controversy, particularly because it came during his high-profile appearance at the NBA conference and amid his preparations for the 2027 presidential election.
For now, however, the identity of whoever placed the electronic device under the vehicle remains unconfirmed, and Sowore’s allegation that it was connected to DSS surveillance has not been independently established.