NORTHERN VALLEY AREA, N.J.—A little more than seven weeks after his arrest Nigerian pro-Democracy campaigner and online journalist Omoyele Sowore was ordered to be released Sept. 24 on condition that he hands over his passport and is available whenever needed by his lawyer for future arraignment.
Sowore, a Bergen County resident, currently operates a New York-based news website called Sahara Reporters, which promotes citizen journalism by encouraging people to report stories on corruption, human rights abuses and political misconduct in Nigeria.
The long ordeal for Sowore began Aug. 2 when he was seized by authorities while he was visiting Nigeria trying to organize a peaceful protest against government corruption and malfeasance.
Government agents arrested him only three days before a peaceful Aug. 5 protest was planned and said he was being charged with crimes against the government.
On Sept. 25, an official with Amnesty International, a worldwide human rights advocacy organization, said they were still awaiting Nigerian authorities to release Sowore.
“Sowore’s release is important as he was targeted for exercising his right to freedom of expression. We urge the Nigerian authorities to respect freedom of expression by releasing him,” said Osai Ojigho, of Amnesty.
“Depending on the bail conditions he may or may not be able to travel to the United States or anywhere else out of the country. The next few weeks will give indication of whether the ruling would be respected. What we expect is for the Nigerian authorities to follow due process and respect the human rights of Omoyele Sowore and others in Nigeria,” said Ojigho.
Three crimes charged
After being held most of seven weeks without being formally charged, he was charged Sept. 20 with three crimes: organizing a protest, insulting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and transferring U.S. money to a Nigerian account.
Sowore was being held in the Nigerian city of Abuja by a Nigerian intelligence agency since Aug. 2.
Since then, more international human rights groups ramped up pressure worldwide on the Nigerian government to release him.
Last week a protest supporting Sowore’s release was held in front of the Nigerian Embassy in New York City.
U.N. protests planned
A second demonstration was planned for Tuesday, Sept. 24 when the Nigerian president was planned to be in New York for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. Sowore was released later that same day.
In a Sept. 4 interview with DemocracyNow!, a weekday news program, his wife, Opeyemi Sowore, said the government courts granted a Nigerian intelligence agency 45 days to investigate him on treason, possible treason and terrorism charges.
That, his wife said, was based on one meeting he had with another human-rights activist, Nnamdi Kanu.
Numerous human-rights and press-rights organizations called for Sowore’s release, with at least 50 joining together to file an appeal with the U.N. in time for its recent assembly. Amnesty International called Sowore’s arrest “a misuse of the criminal system to silence critics and opposition.”
News site since 2006
Sowore launched Sahara Reporters in 2006, when he and his wife were living in Englewood, and the news site’s headquarters moved to Manhattan in 2008.
Journalists working for Sahara Reporters do not face the oppressive government restrictions or interference that journalists working in Nigeria encounter, his wife Opeyemi told DemocracyNow!.
Regarding the alleged charges levied against her husband, Opeyemi said Nigerian authorities said he “may have taken money from international countries, and he met them in Dubai. He has never been to Dubai before, which was an interesting statement on the Nigerian government’s part. And no money, basically, has been found with him. So, those were some of the things that they’ve mentioned and associated with him, but they basically have no grounds for holding him and haven’t found any evidence,” she told DemocracyNow!.
Sowore released
In granting bail and releasing Sowore Sept. 24 following a nearly two-month jailing, Federal High Court Justice Taiwo Taiwo said: “I have listened to the submissions of the learned counsel [Femi Falana, Sowore’s attorney] most especially for the respondent [Sowore] that he should be released from the custody of the applicant [DSS],” said the judge.
“It is a fact that there is no longer an extant order restraining the respondent as at today. It is not also in doubt that there is information filed in the registry of this court. The merit of which this court cannot go into at this stage,” wrote the judge.
‘Uphold rule of law’
“It is also not in doubt that this is a court of justice and must be seen to uphold the rule of law and constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria both in criminal and civil cases. The liberty of Nigerians, poor or rich, is guaranteed by the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Taiwo wrote.
“It is to this end that I am of the view that the respondent [Sowore] ought to be released forthwith in the view of the fact that there is no extant order of this court for his continued detention,” said the judge’s order.