SOWORE’S CHRISTMAS GIFT

At last, human rights activist and founder of Sahara Reporters is out on bail, writes

Fans and supporters of Comrade Omoyele Sowore were agog with joy when he was released on Christmas Eve. Their joy knew no bounds as he will most likely be reunited with his family to spend the Christmas. He had been in the DSS custody since August 3rd when he called for a revolution and the government agency denied his release twice despite two subsisting court orders that he be released on bail. He was released on December 5th only to be rearrested in Gestapo- style by the DSS in the court premises which sent the Judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu scampering into the inner chambers for safety.

Sowore was born 48 years ago in a small town in oil rich Ilaje in the present day Ondo State to a peasant farmer. He had to fend for himself very early in life and by the age of nine was fishing to contribute to the family pool and by 12 was riding a motorcycle popularly called okada to bring home the bacon for the family.

He started his activism exactly three decades ago in 1989 when he actively participated in anti- structural adjustment program riots during the regime of

General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida who cloned the SAP from an IMF and World Bank recommendation.

He later became the Student Union President of the University of Lagos at the age of 21 in 1992 and fought the school authorities in order to ensure a better deal for the students. He was also a thorn in the flesh of cultists as he did his best to battle the menace to a standstill.

He was twice expelled by the university authorities and was reinstated through court orders. He played an active role during the annulment of the June 12 presidential elections won by the presumed winner, Chief Moshood Abiola in 1993 and was in the streets to ensure justice for the business mogul.

In 1999 shortly before the country’s return to civil rule, he travelled to the United States on medical grounds and decided to take up residence there in order to get the best medical care which was sadly not obtainable back home.

He acquired a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the prestigious Ivy League, Columbia University in New York and worked in a Roman-Catholic Charity to help the poor living in the slums of the world’s economic nerve centre.