HAWORTH, N.J.—After more than four months in jail and two months of waiting since his release on bail Christmas Eve, journalist and human-rights activist Omoyele Sowore, a Haworth resident, is scheduled to stand trial Feb. 11 in Nigeria on charges of organizing a pro-democracy rally, treason and money-laundering.
Since his arrest Aug. 3 by Nigerian authorities, Sowore, founder of an online news site, Sahara Reporters, has remained imprisoned or restricted from travel by bail conditions.
His imprisonment and detainment has raised calls for his release from worldwide human-rights organizations, international press-freedom coalitions, New Jersey legislators and congressional representatives.
“Our children and I miss Yele dearly and continue to pray for his safe return home to New Jersey. Despite his release after 143 days of illegal imprisonment and isolation, he remains effectively detained with his movement restricted to Abuja, a city in Nigeria where we do not have any family,” said Opeyemi Sowore, his wife, on Jan. 29.
Opeyemi said while the trial is scheduled to commence Feb. 11, her husband’s lawyer “has still not received statements of the prosecution witnesses as mandated by the court. The case has already been adjourned twice because of the prosecution’s refusal to obey court orders,” she emailed Northern Valley Press.
‘Freedom of expression’
“I hope that the Nigerian government will drop the baseless charges and respect my husband’s right to freedom of expression and to due process as stipulated under the Nigerian Constitution and International Law,” she added in an email.
Following his initial release on Dec. 24, Opeyemi Sowore called for the return of Omoyele to the United States and was joined by a diverse array of human-rights organizations, plus congressional representatives, including U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ5).
Just recently in early December, Sowore supporters rallied in Newark and joined U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez. Gottheimer has called on the Nigerian government to release Omoyele Sowore.
‘Blatant harassment’
“I am outraged by the blatant harassment of Omoyele Sowore, an activist and journalist whose only crime appears to be exercising his right to free expression,” Menendez said in early December.
Menendez said his Senate office was working closely with the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Ambassador in Abuja “to raise this case at the highest levels of the Nigerian government so the Buhari Administration gets the message that we are committed to defending Mr. Sowore’s rights and securing his release,” said Menendez in a statement.
In a letter to the Nigerian ambassador, Menendez and Gottheimer said crackdowns on nonviolent protesters since 2015 “have similarly reflected a lack of apparent commitment to civic freedoms, which is beginning to negatively impact the image of Nigeria’s government, both at home and abroad.”
Both noted the government crackdowns “have collectively killed hundreds of Nigerian citizens and serve as troubling demonstrations of the excessive force used by the military,” wrote Menendez and Gottheimer.
‘Assaulting and detaining’
Moreover, they noted increasing reports from Nigeria of “security services assaulting and detaining journalists, using excessive force on non-violent protesters, and taking other actions that inhibit freedom of expression, and otherwise prevent Nigerians from fully exercising their fundamental constitutional rights.”
Back on Oct. 28, when Omoyele was still imprisoned without any charges being filed, the Haworth community held an emotional rally to press for his return, with local officials and residents offering solemn prayers and a public display of solidarity by tying scores of yellow ribbons—or “yele ribbons” as they called them—around trees that line the borough’s main road, Haworth Avenue.
Every day, another ribbon is added to a tree in Haworth to remember Omoyele’s absence.
