Omoyele Sowore

Omoyele Sowore in 2016

Omoyele "Yele" Sowore (born 16 February, 1971) is a Nigerian human rights activist, pro-democracy campaigner, former presidential candidate, and founder of an online news agency Sahara Reporters.

Quotes

• The issue of some people earning minimum wage and others earning maximum wage, where a senator earns N14 million monthly is unacceptable
  • Omoyele dares National Assembly members on reduction in their salaries for benefit of the masses.

• I can run Nigeria better than President Buhari – even in my sleep.
  • During his 2019 Nigerian presidential election campaign.

• You can't build a future with those who destroyed the past.

• I think we have to be clear. I am a believer that the rights to protest is a fundamental human right but it does not include the right to suggest that you want to overthrow a constituted order. No, there is a difference.
  • Sowore fundamental human right

• When you cannot physically run anymore, you can use the brain to keep going and that is what activism is all about.
  • How I was expelled while preparing to attend 1992 NUGA – Sowore. 22 February 2025, Punch Newspaper.

• You cannot force people to participate in a system they no longer believe in.
  • 2027 election results have been written, democracy is gone — Sowore. 24 May 2025, Vanguard Newspaper.

• For the last three decades, my mission and those of a group of exceptional Nigerians who have aligned with mine have simply been to advance the conditions of the Nigerian people
• I did this as a student union leader fighting to advance students welfare and security. I was a leader in the student and youth wing of the movement that fought against the annulment of the June 12, 1993, elections— a struggle that eventually led to the restoration of democratic rule in 1999.
• Our efforts since 1999 have been focused on ensuring that Nigeria’s democracy thrives and that those who aspire to lead this nation are accountable to the Nigerian people.
• Sahara Reporters has been my major platform for shining light in the darkest recesses of Nigerian politics. As you are well aware, our efforts at Sahara Reporters helped ensure that Obasanjo’s third term bid failed; we helped to ensure that Goodluck Jonathan took his rightful constitutional role as Yar’Adua’s successor, and our pioneering efforts in real-time reporting of election results helped ensure that the 2015 elections were not rigged— which led to the defeat of an incumbent political party and a sitting president— the first in Nigeria’s history
• What has become clear to me over the years is that we have been trying to steer Nigeria forward using borrowed hands, borrowed robes and borrowed voices. Mandela and Obama have redefined the role of activists in advancing democratic governance
• I don’t view those who ask this question of experience to be critics. I believe it is a very important and germane question.
• Even then – since 1999, we have been ruled by two former heads of state – Obasanjo and Buhari. What did Nigeria gain from their so-called experience?
• Our current president rode to power largely based on the premise that he would use his previous experience as a head of state and a military general to fight corruption and defeat Boko Haram.
• Corruption has grown worse. Now even snakes and monkeys have joined our peculiar political class as looters of public funds. Just a few weeks ago – Boko Haram captured over 100 girls from Dapchi in Yobe state, President Buhari’s government acted almost exactly.
• What experience did Mandela have when he became South Africa’s President? He had just spent the previous 27 years in prison. What previous experience did Obama have in running a country before he became president?
• To those who ask to know what my qualifications are – here is what I will say. For the past 30 years – my life has been dedicated and devoted to the cause of the Nigerian people.
• In 2006, I decided that the best way to advance that cause was to create a platform that would fearlessly and courageously expose bad governance and corruption. I wasn’t even a journalist. I had no experience in journalism and trust me, I was ridiculed and derided by “professionals” even though they fed fat on our brand of journalism.
• We have helped sustain democracy not just in Nigeria but across the African continent in nations like Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Ghana and the Gambia.
• My personal experience, my reading of history teaches me that what matters most is to have a vision and the will to execute on a clear plan. That is what I promise the Nigerian people I will bring to the office.
• At what age is one qualified to speak on national matters? I was barely out of my teenage years when I became a leader in the Nigerian students’ movement and one of the leading voices in the struggle that led to Babangida’s permanent retirement.
• I am not interested in being just one more voice that can be silenced or suspended from a national assembly that is full of rogues and thieves; I am not looking to be paid allowances that rip Nigeria off.
• I am 47 years old. Gowon was 32 when he became Nigeria’s head of state. This movement is not about making statements. It is about taking Nigeria’s destiny away from the marauders that have destroyed our nation – and to set Nigeria on the path to growth, prosperity and greatness.
• My campaign is a movement. It is a campaign for all Nigerians and I am merely the arrowhead and the implementor of that great vision. It will be financed by the Nigerian people.
• I have asked for 10,000 Nigerians to join me in raising $2 million for this initial phase of the campaign. If you have been following our activities, Nigerians from all over the world have been responding positively to that clarion call.
• I have a clear plan and my policy team is now in the process, tweaking detailed implementation plans for every sector of the Nigerian economy that we will soon be shared with Nigerians.
• Countries from China to Brazil and Morocco are using PPP arrangements to fund growth.
• Nigeria is not currently attractive to PPP because the enabling policies are not in place, but equally as important, investors are wary of taking their funds into corruption ridden nations. I will fix all that.
• Niger, our neighbour to the north has some of the world’s largest nuclear reserves. The bottom line is that our energy mix must be diversified. The next pillar of my energy plan is decentralization.
• I don’t believe in forming something new just for the sake of it. There are progressive parties as movements that currently exist, and right now we are discussing matters that should lead to the formation of a coalition of truly progressive political parties and movements, not the sham rebranding that was done by the APC in 2014/2015, but an authentic and organic integration of Nigeria’s grassroots and progressive parties and movements
• If we collectively decide that a new entity is required to serve as a platform for actualising our vision for a new Nigeria, then we will do so. Here is what I can assure you of; this movement will have nothing to do with the failed parties of the past like APC and PDP.
• Sahara Reporters is greater than one individual. It represents an ideal. The idea that ordinary citizens can acquire the power to hold their leaders accountable and speak truth to power
• I can assure you that when I am in the office, Sahara Reporters will be holding my feet to the fire and shining the light on the actions of my government.
• When I win the presidency I will be turning the editorial function in Sahara Reporters as well as my financial holdings in a blind trust respectively.
• I alluded to this earlier, but the point bears repeating. I am already putting together a shadow cabinet that is not only working on developing the details of how our plans will be implemented and paid for; but they are also tracking the activities of the Buhari government, so that we know exactly how much work needs to be done to get Nigeria back on track on day zero.
• Unlike others who might have just entered the Nigerian political system, I have been an activist participant in Nigerian politics. As an activist, civil rights crusader and most recently as a conscientious citizen activist for the past three decades
• If someone is trying to pay one contractor three times, the AI will detect it.
• At the end you would have eliminated the ministry of finance, the auditor general’s office and that of the accountant general because those are the three offices in Nigeria that are largely responsible for corruption.
• The presidency of Sowore is going to be about technology. It is going to be built on the forth industrial revolution which is a revolution that is around artificial intelligence, the power of computing, block chain technology and decentralized banking
• What it means is that very soon, digital currency will flood the world and your central bank will become archaic.
• You are trying to intimidate me and insult my intelligence just because you are a SAN. I have my own SANs
• Courtrooms in a constitutional democracy are open to the public not as arenas for performance, but as sanctuaries for the orderly administration of justice. Their openness promotes transparency and public confidence, yet it also imposes a duty of restraint on all who enter.
• In nearly three decades of practice, I have never witnessed this,
• Access to the courtroom is therefore a right exercised within boundaries of decorum, discipline, and respect for judicial authority. The courtroom exists solely for adjudication, and its openness cannot be stretched to permit activities unrelated to that purpose
• The NBA cannot claim to defend the rule of law while ignoring abuses by powerful state actors,
• If the NBA truly seeks to protect the integrity of the legal profession and the courts, it must begin with honesty, consistency, and courage. Not selective outrage. Indeed, this is another sad day for democracy in Nigeria,
• “I did not organise any press conference. I responded to questions, as I have done consistently over the years, including during my 2019 treason trial under the @MBuhari regime, even though the @OfficialDSSNG would smuggle me in and out of the court using the judge’s elevator bank
• The attempt by some lawyers, including Senior Advocate Musibau, to intimidate and harass us in court, issuing threats, attempting to destroy equipment, and even calling the police, only underscores the growing culture of impunity.

• If I have to, I have my master’s, if I have to go for a PhD, I will do like Obasanjo. I will go to the National Open University of Nigeria, where they teach you from house..
• “It’s not too late for the guy (Tinubu) to go back to school. Actually, one of his ministers went back and did their NYSC after he became a minister.

“He can still register in any of these online primary and secondary schools. He had the chance to have gone back to school between 2020 and now.

• Tinubu should have gone back to school. He can still register online for primary school and secondary school. So, I don’t see any problem. After all, Adeleke do am for Osun State (Adeleke did it in Osun State).
• There’s an adult education opportunity for him. So that they would fill that primary school section for him.”
• It is so disappointing that this is what we are talking about. Again, I believe that we are just raising this question for academic purposes. We don’t know the answer to our question. That is, those certificates are not there. So, it is what it is.
• “So, I am surprised that this form went through INEC, knowing it was not filled
• They should be able to tell us what happened to them. Because when you fill out forms online and submit, it will reject your submission, saying you have not completed filling in all the necessary information
• Let them tell us why the President’s secondary school and primary school certificates are not there. We all know that you cannot graduate from university without attending basic school.”

• I learned today that a TikToker underwent a traditional ‘cleansing’ ritual after filming an Oloolu masquerade procession.
• While culture occupies a vital place in our lives, any cultural practice that is oppressive, discriminatory, or insensitive to gender should be abandoned immediately.
• Wasila was ultimately abused and stripped of her dignity by the very people who are often quick to condemn Islamists for engaging in similar acts.
• “It does not matter whether such abuse is carried out by Islamists, traditionalists, or anyone else.
• Any culture, tradition, or belief system that violates human dignity is unacceptable and has no place in a just society,”