Activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, has clarified the nature of his relationship with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, specifically refuting a common claim that Tinubu played a role in his “rehabilitation” in 1999.
In a video clip, Sowore stated that he only met Tinubu once in 1999 after the former Lagos State governor returned from exile.1 The meeting was a brief encounter on the streets of Ikeja, where Tinubu was campaigning.
Sowore, a prominent student union leader at the University of Lagos from 1992 to 1994, has consistently maintained that during the pro-democracy struggle against military rule, he and other student leaders were the ones on the front lines, while politicians like Tinubu were on the “extreme end” of the discussions.2 He contends that Tinubu was never an “activist” in the same vein as those who risked their lives to stay and fight within Nigeria.3
This clarification comes amid an ongoing legal battle between Sowore and the Federal Government, which has charged him with cybercrime and defamation for a social media post where he referred to President Tinubu as a “criminal.”4 The Department of State Services (DSS) has demanded that Sowore retract the post and issue a public apology, a demand he has publicly defied.5
