Omo_Tier1:

Where in the article did NYT ask you to switch over to SR?,   **deserving SLAP x 2 not SLAP x1**  

obowunmi:

After such reign of terror, not surprised they kidnapped him.

Werepe: so u go unilag,  I'm sure you know Debolowski, him start magazine for unilag at the time.

werepeLeri:

I went to the same school with this guy- if it were a country where laws are upheld, this guy would either have faced the firing squad or sent to jail for his entire lifetime. In 1995, this guy led some students, on the guise of looking for cult members, to prominent members of the society in Lagos, looting, burning and killing. He led the worst students union government in Unilag at that time - I remembered him and his cohorts beating up two so called cult members and leaving them stark nake d in front of the new hall at that time. He reigned with terror and there was no consideration for human rights under him. Today - he champions human rights. Where are the souls of the so called cult members who died under his raid? and the properties set ablaze by him and his cohorts? Where is the justice on what he did then in 1995? Wish he can be called to book and prosecuted rather than him parading himself as a champion of human rights.

Bawss1:

Even though for some reason SR is loved by many here on NL I personally take everything I get from them with a grain of salt. The very fact that the publisher is not on ground to verify the reports he publishes allows him to come up with some rather incredible stories.

I agree with their position though that the press is somewhat compromised but they'll get my my full adoration when falsehood is eliminated from their reports.

obowunmi:

Ife, did you know him @ Lag, tell us a different side.

obowunmi:

Penny, ure wrong there.

There's a growing emergence of vigilante and active citizenship participation whereby people are starting blogs and typin what they have seen and heard. Whether or not people take them seriously is another because people expect their news from specific sources. I can say that Sahara and 234next don't receive bribes why ? Because technically the owners are not based in Nigeria.

Yes, news collect money and bribes from politicians when they want positive things written about them or negative about their opponents, but we can also say that corruption is rampant, everywhere in the country.

Bawss1:

Even though for some reason SR is loved by many here on NL I personally take everything I get from them with a grain of salt. The very fact that the publisher is not on ground to verify the reports he publishes allows him to come up with some rather incredible stories.

I agree with their position though that the press is somewhat compromised but they'll get my my full adoration when falsehood is eliminated from their reports.

werepeLeri:

I went to the same school with this guy- if it were a country where laws are upheld, this guy would either have faced the firing squad or sent to jail for his entire lifetime. In 1995, this guy led some students, on the guise of looking for cult members, to prominent members of the society in Lagos, looting, burning and killing. He led the worst students union government in Unilag at that time - I remembered him and his cohorts beating up two so called cult members and leaving them stark nake d in front of the new hall at that time. He reigned with terror and there was no consideration for human rights under him. Today - he champions human rights. Where are the souls of the so called cult members who died under his raid? and the properties set ablaze by him and his cohorts? Where is the justice on what he did then in 1995? Wish he can be called to book and prosecuted rather than him parading himself as a champion of human rights.

werepeLeri:

I went to the same school with this guy- if it were a country where laws are upheld, this guy would either have faced the firing squad or sent to jail for his entire lifetime. In 1995, this guy led some students, on the guise of looking for cult members, to prominent members of the society in Lagos, looting, burning and killing. He led the worst students union government in Unilag at that time - I remembered him and his cohorts beating up two so called cult members and leaving them stark nake d in front of the new hall at that time. He reigned with terror and there was no consideration for human rights under him. Today - he champions human rights. Where are the souls of the so called cult members who died under his raid? and the properties set ablaze by him and his cohorts? Where is the justice on what he did then in 1995? Wish he can be called to book and prosecuted rather than him parading himself as a champion of human rights.

werepeLeri:

I went to the same school with this guy- if it were a country where laws are upheld, this guy would either have faced the firing squad or sent to jail for his entire lifetime. In 1995, this guy led some students, on the guise of looking for cult members, to prominent members of the society in Lagos, looting, burning and killing. He led the worst students union government in Unilag at that time - I remembered him and his cohorts beating up two so called cult members and leaving them stark nake d in front of the new hall at that time. He reigned with terror and there was no consideration for human rights under him. Today - he champions human rights. Where are the souls of the so called cult members who died under his raid? and the properties set ablaze by him and his cohorts? Where is the justice on what he did then in 1995? Wish he can be called to book and prosecuted rather than him parading himself as a champion of human rights.

OMOYELE SOWORE:
THE 10 YEAR OLD BOY WHO BECAME AN ACTIVIST


Omoyele Sowore
"Great things are from small beginings", is the opening line of a television advert used to boost the sales of Milo, a beverage drink, a couple of years back. If you ever doubted the slogan, chances are, that you've never heard the story of Omoyele Sowore - even if you were at the University of Lagos, Unilag, either as a mere alumnus or with a combined minor in cultism. You either love or hate him.

ot many, among those born of women, would still remain on their feet, shouting, if allowed to taste some of the bitter pills he had to swallow while occupying the exalted office of President of the Student Union of the institution. It was during his tenure that a battle line was drawn between cult members and law abiding students at Akoka. Taking the bull by the horns, he led the struggle in his own domain at the without any doubt, the cultists were put on the back foot. For the 'Great Akokites" and the generality of Nigerian undergraduates, this was a monumental victory. There was a new lease of life, freshness was in the air, and like many other students, he was in his room preparing for a semester examination when the story line changed and this happened: 'Cult members numbering 150, at about 6: 30pm on Friday March 11, 1994 attacked me. But hang on a minute, that wasn't all. 'I was stripped naked, stabbed on my head and injected with unknown chemical substances," before the very students he fought for, rescued him.

What would an ordinary person do in such a circumstance? Throw his hands in the air and give up the struggle he embraced as a 10 year boy who saw a lot of injustices, culminating in policemen raping girls in his hometown of Kiribo on december 24, 1980 and bringing false charges against the young men and ruining many careers in the process. He had to say :"Goodbye Rose" to the woman he loved ." I faced pressure from everywhere - family, friends, church people. I remember on one occasion, after I was attacked in 1994 and the police had declared me wanted and UNILAG authorities followed up with my expulsion from school. I went underground somewhere in Lagos so that I could recover properly because they had driven me away from medical doctors who treated me at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH. My girlfriend always bought me the Guardian newspapers so that I could read about the happenings in the outside world, and also respond to negative stories by the police and the UNILAG authorities in hand-written press releases that she took to the Guardian on my behalf.

"One morning she walked into my hiding place with a newspaper and handed it over to me. I flipped the pages to number 3, which is where the Guardian had its best short, national stories, on the left corner was the police declaration that I was wanted for 'arson, robbery and malicious damage," with a ransom placed on my head. She was devastated to see what they were doing to me in spite of my condition, she wept uncontrollably and told me that her Mom wants her to break up with me because she thought I will never live long enough to raise 'our" kids if we got married. She asked if I'll chose to leave Nigeria for her sake to which I said 'no." Though she helped greatly in my recovery, we parted due to consistent family pressure on her. I respect her enormously for what she did, she stood strongly for me. It was a difficult time in my life as an activist, but I said to myself that:"it was better to die for ideas that would outlive me, than live for an idea that will die." Having walked through the valley of the shadow of death, he fled to the United States in 1999 - not in retreat, but for urgent medical treatment of his vital organs - from where he talked with me on a number of issues about a fornight ago.

Firstly, he tells youths who are contemplating joining or who already belong to the group to have a second thought. "I would love to tell those young people who think cultism is cool, that they will soon grow cold, It has no benefit of any kind. They stand the chance of getting killed for nothing, because at the formative age in their lives, they refuse to stand up for something good. There are myriad of institutional injustices in Nigeria: social causes, cultural issues and lucrative sporting and academic careers to which young people can commit their energy, stamina and integrity, other than a destructive, criminal and bestial act of cultism. I have travelled to several places around the world especially in the US, where I have sat on panels speaking respectfully about human rights and democracy on the account of my being a Nigerian youth/student activist. I know a lot of Nigerians who were cultists in their days in Nigeria, who currently live in the US. Some lament to me every other day that they wished they never participated in any act or form of cultism, even though they do not face or have criminal liabilities hanging around their neck - I wish they do, on the account of their shameful past. They are eternally ashamed of their past associations and carry around a burdened conscience. They have learnt very quickly, that these kinds of behaviour have no place in civilised societies."

This plague, he said, is fast spreading and recruitment starts at an unbelievable age. Youths are not even allowed the opportunity to get to their teens before being drafted to the evil battalion. Primary school pupils, he revealed, are joining the rank and file, thus committing themselves to an uncertain and punishable life of crime. 'Before leaving Nigeria in 1999, I embarked on a campaign against cultism, I found out that even primary school pupils where joining cult groups, I found that cult members recruit in high schools, colleges and universities in Nigeria. They compete for turf and membership, and as such, they have managed to penetrate every nook and cranny of Nigeria's institutional life. And because the government never tackled the problem, it did spread very seriously to every level."

But can you spot a cultist or know that your child/ward has been hanging around with them? It's tough for parents to know what their child has been up to and there's no one stop solution."It is a difficult suggestion to make, because there are a lot of factors driving parenthood in Nigeria and I must say that cultism doesn't have physical symptoms - except with some groups that inflict tattoos on the body of their members during initiation - until a child or ward is involved in a cult clash, even then, they quickly turn around and lie about their injuries. You cannot tell easily tell if your child is a cultist and it's not by mere appearance. While we fought cultism at UNILAG, most parents come around to deny that their kids were in cult groups because they say well:"I am a Teacher, Priest or Imam."

That is not necessarily an immunity that would prevent your child from being a sworn member, he said. And for those whose children are suspected of being there, they take a wrong and disgraceful approach, he lamented. 'Some parents don't care, if their children were involved in cultism, they try to bribe the Vice-Chancellor or police so that they will get out of the immediate trouble. Out there in Nigeria a lot of parents are also cult members, armed robbers, fraudulent contractors, political robbers and military officers, who kill their neighbours on the slightest provocation. Most of these so-called parents are the complacent and lazy Nigerians who would never fight for their human and democratic rights. When young people don't have role models to emulate, they look up to their peers for motivation and support.

'A perpetuation of this criminal motivation is the function of a failed leadership in Nigeria. I mean at every level, the power structure and parenthood is made up of: 'delinquent adults." First example, on March 12, 1994, Dr. Tunde Shobowale who is the current Commissioner of Education of Lagos State, called a press conference in Lagos, using all his weight as the Managing Editor of the Republic Newspaper to denounce UNILAG students by parading his son as a victim of Students Union brutality, whereas his son was involved in attacking me on March 11 - the night before. Before I left Nigeria in 1999, his son came on a live television show: 'Sonny Irabor Live" on AIT in Lagos and confessed of his membership of a notorious cult group at UNILAG. This is an example of the irresponsible parenthood I am talking about. Till today, the man never apologised to the Students Union leaders whom he blackmailed, maligned and tried to convict for Armed Robbery, with the help of the Lagos Police. Now, he's is a Commissioner that is put in charge of the future of a lot of young people in Nigeria through the largest state owned Ministry of Education in the country," a sad tale.

In March 1994, a group of 150 cult gang members led by a police officer Frank Ewuim Odera appeared on campus and attacked Mr. Sowore and 24 other student activists. (Now attached to the Police Force headquarters; Frank, nicknamed "Hitman," was purportedly a student of Estate Management at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, a cover-up position for his secret activities as a Police agent operating with cult gangs on behalf of the military). The cults were informally tied to members of the military and were trying to intimidate student leaders from opposition activities. In the March 1994 attack, Mr. Sowore was beaten, stripped, humiliated, and stabbed in the head. He was also injected in the buttocks with a substance that has left him chronically fatigued and with chronic pain in his chest and joints. After the attack, he was taken to the university health center for treatment, where the staff had been intimidated into not treating him. Mr. Sowore had to be taken off-campus to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba in Lagos for treatment. After five days of admission and while still critically ill, police officers from State Criminal Investigation Dept (SCID), Panti came searching for Mr. Sowore at the hospital, but he managed to escape with the help of a security guard. He spent the next four months recuperating. During his recovery in April 13, 1994, he was declared wanted by the government, and he was again expelled from the university. While bed-ridden, Mr. Sowore gave an interview to Nigeria's Guardian Newspaper. The police searched for him, and rounded-up and tortured student activists who had carried on while Sowore was attacked. These students were then "hijacked" by the police while driving in the Students Union bus on their way from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), were massively tortured and arraigned before a Magistrate Court for alleged ''Armed Robbery.'' Thus in spite of efforts to discover his location, fellow activists were prevented from being able to find him.

In July 1994, the university was reopened. Mr. Sowore succeeded in being readmitted and took his final exams. The university withheld his results for six months, and he sued the school in court. Eventually, he was allowed to graduate with a degree in Geography/Planning. All university graduates in Nigeria are required to do compulsory national service for the government. In June 1995, Mr. Sowore received an assignment to work as a producer for the government television station in Adamawa state in the North - Eastern part of Nigeria ,about 2,000 miles away from his hometown. Six months later, police called him to the police station and told him he should never have been allowed on television. They ordered him to appear at the station weekly. In January 1996, Mr. Sowore was fired from the station.

In mid-1996, Mr. Sowore attended the national service graduation ceremony to pick up his certificate of completion, without which a university graduate is ineligible for work. At the ceremony, he was arrested and taken to the air force base in Yola by Squadron Leader Waziri, who was referred to as the "O.C-Hinst of the baseb in Yola, Adamawa State. He was beaten and interrogated nightly, and kept in solitary confinement and shackled for six days. After some publicity, he was released and was warned to cease his activities. He then returned to Lagos in June 1996. Mr. Sowore needed his national service certificate to work, so he filed a lawsuit against the government to have his document released. The court however declined jurisdiction; yet, at each court hearing, plainclothes officers followed him around to intimidate him.

In Lagos, Mr. Sowore continued his student organising activities, forming the Committee for Protection of People's Dignity. He was responsible for organising rallies on campus to protest the Abacha regime. During July and August, a number of activists in the committee were assassinated. Mr. Sowore went into hiding. In July, he was arrested at a procession of 2000 mourners to the home of Moshood Abiola, who had just died in prison. Upon arriving at the Abiola home, the mourners were met by riot police, who ordered the crowd to disperse. The police started firing tear gas and beating the mourners with rifle butts and truncheons. Mr. Sowore was spotted by an agent who recognised him. He was arrested and severely beaten on the street.

Mr. Sowore was taken to the notorious Area F police station in Lagos. A large group of protestors who had been arrested along with Mr. Sowore were all jammed into a small cell. Police then started firing tear gas into the cell, and then beat the demonstrators. On the third day of detention, Mr. Sowore was brought to court and charged with disturbing the peace. Mr. Sowore was released from custody, but was called to court every week.

In August 1998, Nigeria's national educational examinations board withheld testing forms from the western and Delta regions of Nigeria, but distributed them freely in the north. Mr. Sowore organised a demonstration of 2000 students at the National Exam Council, demanding an immediate end to this disparate treatment. At the rally, Mr. Sowore was headbutted, knocked down and handcuffed by undercover agents. He was taken to the Area G station, where he was beaten and detained for three days. He was charged again with disturbing the peace, and made to appear in court weekly.

Mr. Sowore was arrested again in September 1998 at the National University Games at a protest against the Abubakar government. Soldiers with assault rifles began firing in the air and attacked the demonstrators. Mr. Sowore was arrested and beaten at the scene, and thrown into the trunk of a police car. The police drove him for over one hour to Area F, and threw him in with hardcore criminals. In Nigeria, such criminals are kept in communal cells and treated severely. Trustees in the cell would beat Mr. Sowore on orders from the guards. After two weeks, he was released and made to appear in court weekly.

Also in September 1998, Mr. Sowore completed production of a critical documentary on the links between Nigeria's military government and the petroleum companies operating in the country. This documentary title dwas made in association with the US-based Pacifica Radio Network s produced by Amy Goodman and Jeremy Schaill. That month, while Mr. Sowore was being detained over the NUGA games protest , one night he was brought to the office of a powerful military official. He was told to stay away from oil issues or be killed.

In January 1999, Mr. Sowore left Nigeria to attend a conference in Brussels, Belgium entitled "Poverty Alleviation and Good Governance in Nigeria." The conference was organised by the European Union Liaison Committee for NGOs. He was detained at the airport in Lagos for about an hour, but was then permitted to depart. After his meeting in Brussels, Mr. Sowore then travelled to The Hague to speak before the Dutch government and campaign against Royal Dutch Shell's human rights violations in the Delta.

In February 1999, Mr. Sowore returned to Nigeria to handle some business and legal affairs. He then left Nigeria on February 18, 1999 to attend a conference at the American University sponsored by the Centre for Global Peace. He flew from Lagos to Brussels, where he had a transit stop, and from there to JFK and then to Washington, D.C. He moved to New York to seek treatment at the Bellevue-NYU Program for Torture Survivors. Mr Sowore has very strong intentions to return to Nigeria as soon as his treatment is concluded.

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) urges the Human Rights Investigation Panel to:

emmatok:

You have problem with UNIONISM.

Yes Sowore was a Strong union leader In UNILAG like other in UI and OAU. SO what.

He was poisoned by the-same cultist, and luckily sent abroad by some activists.

The-same Saharareporters championed GEJ course during YARADUA regime.

Now these sycophants are bashing them.

oyb:

let us salute a genuine radical - not a hypocrite like the unijos sug leader who is now a minister talking bs, or beaf, a so called activist who now supports all the evils and excess of the fg that he was whining about less 2 years ago