- I’m A Presidential Candidate, DSS, FG Trying To Silence Me – Sowore
- He insisted the trial is intended to silence his activism.
- The activist vowed to continue speaking against injustice despite prosecution.
Publisher and human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, has accused the Federal Government and the Department of State Services (DSS) of persecuting him in a bid to silence his activism and criticism of those in power.
Sowore made the allegation on Monday while addressing journalists at the Federal High Court in Abuja after proceedings in his trial over his description of President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.”
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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the African Action Congress (AAC) 2027 presidential candidate insisted that the charges against him were politically motivated and not based on any criminal wrongdoing.
“I’m not appearing here because I committed any crime. I’m in court, and I’m being persecuted because I decided to stand up to be counted on the side of rights in this country.
“I will never be part of the people who will steal your money. I will never be part of the people who will murder somebody because they don’t agree with me. I will never be in this country, or be a citizen of any country in the world, particularly Nigeria, and watch while they sink your destinies,” he said.
Speaking on the day’s proceedings, Sowore described the court session as a success and claimed even the prosecution had shown openness towards his political ambition.
“I am a presidential candidate, so I need to discuss serious national issues. I want to announce to you today that even the prosecutor, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said that he is waiting for me to convince him so that he can vote for me in the election.
“That is progress made today. We are close to winning the election. This is an attempt to clear himself of bias,” he said.
Reacting to questions about his recent detention, Sowore said his ordeal remained ongoing because authorities were still seeking to return him to prison.
“Incarceration and experience with incarceration is not something I pay attention to, considering that even today I was supposed to go back to prison again.
“So an experience that has not been concluded cannot become a matter for discussion. It is an ongoing issue. And my persecution is also an ongoing concern.
“Don’t worry about it. If I tell you my experience now, if I write a book, most of you will not buy it. And I have a duty to raise money,” Sowore said.
On whether he was treated fairly while in custody, the activist rejected the suggestion, maintaining that fairness could not exist for someone who had not been convicted of any offence.
“There is no fair treatment for somebody who has not been committed. We can’t even say that,” Sowore said.
“We are talking about prison. I made it clear last week when I spoke to the media. They called it the correctional centre, but for me, it was prison.
“Nobody should be correcting a person who is correcting society. That’s the job I do in this country.”
Sowore also vowed not to be intimidated, insisting that he would continue speaking against injustice despite the legal challenges.
“Listen, no matter what they do to you in this country, no matter what it turns into, look at me very well today, I remain the conscience of this nation. And I’m not the only one. All these people are the conscience of this nation. Some of you are the conscience of the nation.
“We are dealing with conscienceless power. But when conscienceless power meets a powerful conscience, it collapses.”
He commended members of his legal team, activists and supporters who have continued to attend his court proceedings from different parts of the country.
“Sometimes in the history of mankind, people like us come once in a while. When I say people like us, I mean many of us here.
“Our lawyers have to spend countless hours defending this case. We have activists who come here from across the country. There are people watching us from all over the world,” he said.
Sowore argued that Nigeria’s pressing challenges extend beyond his trial, pointing to insecurity, poverty, poor healthcare and economic hardship.
“They are trying to figure out what will happen to us. They’ve already known that I’ve been singled out to be maltreated.
“But what will happen to this country? How can children who are abducted be reunited with their families? How can we travel safely in our country? How can people who are working earn a living wage?
“How can hospitals attend to diseases that are not ours? How can our economic system empower us without disenfranchisement?
“We are talking about this country where characters are running fake agencies. And the people who are behind them are paying them and putting them in their pockets.
“So, we are living in that country regardless of the risks involved.”
According to him, the repeated prosecutions and attempts to have him remanded were aimed solely at silencing his voice.
“It is about how to make Sowore not talk. That’s the whole thing,” he said.
“The judge had to say, ‘I did not give him an order that he should not talk.’
“But it’s all about making sure he doesn’t talk. The anxiety is: ‘He’s going to talk, he’s going to talk, he’s going to talk.’
“So they ask, ‘Why not make sure he doesn’t talk?’
“That tells you something. There is power in our voice,” he added.
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