Wunmi Semudara
The African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has insisted that he deserves an apology from the Nigerian government for his arrest and detention in 2019.
Speaking in an interview on Arise Television, Sowore expressed his belief that the government should have issued an apology without him having to demand it. He stated, “I deserve an apology, but what I would do is that I’m not so interested in an apology – I will extract compensation from them in a jurisdiction that they have no power to affect a decision like this”
Recalling the government’s discontinuation of the case against him over alleged treason, Sowore had been arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) in August 2019 for advocating a revolution during President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Although released on bail, he was restricted from leaving the country as part of his bail conditions.
The Federal High Court in Abuja stamped a Notice of Discontinuance on Thursday, signed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), stating the government’s decision to discontinue the case.
Sowore, in reflecting on the 2019 protest he led for a revolution, emphasized that many Nigerians did not fully grasp the context until then.
He clarified that his goal was to achieve a complete system change in Nigeria, a feat unprecedented in any other country.
“I actually was calling for revolution, and I never denied it. There’s only one form of revolution – a change that has never been seen before. In the life of any country, that’s what I was calling for.” He maintained this stance during interrogations by the Department of State Services and court proceedings, emphasizing the impracticality of prosecuting a revolution.
