Omoyele Sowore heads the Take Back Nigeria Movement and hopes to ride on a coalition of political parties as presidential candidate on his way to becoming the next president and commander-in-chief. His entry into the presidential race was unexpected but not surprising.
Unexpected because Sowore, with personal involvement and the power of his ubiquitous and very powerful media machine, Sahara Reporters, was partly instrumental in the movement that ushered in President Buhari to Aso Rock in 2015. Buhari was popularly considered the incorruptible and more acceptable candidate among the controversial lot at the time, a political figure who every political idealist would want to settle for.
But it is not surprising that Sowore left his New York base to join the race for president in Nigeria. From age 21, Sowore has been a disruptive person, with an unassailable commitment to social order, inclusion and national development and has over the years, loathed mediocrity and below-par performance in governance.
Sowore’s patriotism and courage are not in doubt. However, On the road to 2019, how far he is able to build a political structure that can survive, outlive, outmatch and dismantle the age-long combustible political system and processes put in place by centripetal and centrifugal forces, is still a concern. Again, in the face of a hugely monetised political and electoral systems, it remains a worry how Sowore can stand acid tests ahead
As a student at the University of Lagos, where he was the Students Union president, Sowore put the authorities on their toes and held them accountable and at the slightest provocation, led the mass of UNILAG students, with whom he was very popular, on protests and movement for change, which made him extremely detested by the management but largely loved and trusted by the student body in the university and in NANS’ circles.
Sowore’s activities at UNILAG made him as enigmatic as Olusegun Maiyegun, his predecessor, who was also a fearless student leader in Nigeria. In 1993, after the annulment of the presidential election, Sowore threw himself totally into the cause of the struggle for the actualisation of the June 12 mandate, leading famous (and infamous) protests in Lagos.
He soon became a target for elimination by the Abacha junta, which arrested and incarcerated him a number of times. At a point, he was poisoned or injected with a venomous substance by the military, which nearly took his life.
Sowore’s activities and legendary confrontations with the military resonated and echoed in all tertiary institutions and university campuses, including the University of Ibadan. During that period, Adebowale Esho was the Student Union president and I was president of the Union of Campus Journalists. Ogbede Maxy had handed over the reins of power to Esho after an eventful era. We were inspired by Sowore’s anti-junta stance and began the wave of resistance in hitherto sleepy Ibadan, which gave momentum to the June 12 struggle. While the SUG- with the guidance of seniors and leading lights such as High Priest (Oladoyin Odebowale)- used effective political and powerful propaganda instruments, the UCJ used the highly volatile Nigerian media to push the June 12 crusade to limits too unbearable for Abacha. One cannot forget the doggedness of radicals like Lagos Connection (Dopemu Rasheed), Above Jordan (Oludare Ogunlana), who later became NANS president, Major (Adeniyi Adedoyin), who also became NANS VP External Affairs; and even my compatriots, Ossai Ossai, Ernest Omoarelojie and Chris Ogbu, whose creative writings and media advocacy charged up the university community.
That was how influential Sowore was in the Nigerian student community. He remained committed to the anti-Abacha struggle that he, like Professor Wole Soyinka, became a fugitive in his own country and fled Nigeria to continue the struggle abroad.
Little wonder, he boldly confronted, recently, the Minister of Communications, who he outmatched in every department of the radio interview. He challenged the Jonathan administration and exclusively feretted and published private phone numbers of public servants and political leaders, who he urged the public to hold accountable. He departed from Buhari in the wake of growing instances of weak leadership.
Sowore’s patriotism and courage are not in doubt. However, on the road to 2019, how far he is able to build a political structure that can survive, outlive, outmatch and dismantle the age-long combustible political system and processes put in place by centripetal and centrifugal forces, is still a concern. Again, in the face of a hugely monetised political and electoral systems, it remains a worry how Sowore can stand acid tests ahead and be insulated from the allure of lucre or seduction of moneybags.
Another factor is, acceptability in the North (Buhari, Atiku and Tambuwal’s strongholds). One wonders how he will bulldoze his way through with his populist agenda in that highly partisan part of the country and how he can penetrate a largely politically dissatisfied Southeast.
Finally, Nigeria in its advanced stage of political correctness in public life, may offer a strange platform for Sowore’s political idealism, which many in my generation are a victim of. Sowore is pulling strong and trudging on in the face of these odds at present; but in the event of a strong tide, which is impending as the race heats up, how prepared is he?
*Folarin, Phd, is a Professor of Political Science at Covenant University, Otta, Ogun State.
