Omoyele Sowore, the African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, says he’s being punished for standing up for his rights — and for every Nigerian.
He spoke on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday, shortly after his release from Kuje Correctional Centre. Sowore was bailed for N200 million in a defamation suit brought by the government over his alleged comment calling President Bola Tinubu a “criminal.”
“I’m not being tried for any definition or any bloodlines between free speech and criminal definition. I am being punished by people in power for standing up for my right and that of other people. It didn’t start today.
“They have a historical anger against me. It’s an issue between me and the ruling class in Nigeria that have been destroying the country. They said I have stood in their way of corruption and impunity.
“Our security agencies and their leaders as well as those in power are the people fighting me. Forget about what they said is the reason they arrested me.
“What was the reason they gave for seizing my NYSC certificate? That I discussed politics in 1996 when the military was in power. What was the reason I was expelled from the University of Lagos? It’s because I participated in protest,” Sowore said.
