Criticisms have trailed Omoyele Sowore, Publisher and founder of Sahara Reporters, declaration to run for Presidency in 2019, while some have lauded his decision, skeptics are unsure if he is the man for the job.
Declaring his Presidential ambition at Ikeja, Lagos State, Sowore said “In my first day as a President, I’ll turn Nigeria into a construction site. I have created jobs before.
“Since Buhari became President, his cows haven’t multiplied. He has had 150 cows since. If you ask Nigerians about the economic plans of Buhari, they’ll point to the British accent of the Finance Minister. How does accent create jobs?”
Qualifications
Sowore studied Geography and Regional Planning at the University of Lagos and has a Master’s degree from Columbia University.
He presently teaches Modern African History at the City University of New York and Post Colonial African History at the School of Art in New York.
He has been the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of SaharaReporters since it began operations in 1995.
Any different from politicians?
- Calumny
Sowore, though unpopular among Nigeria’s politicians and the ruling class mostly because of his paper’s (Sahara reporters) reportage and portrayal of politicians as corrupt, with hard evidence to back up its claims, has also joined in the calumny agenda of politicians.
In reference to the President, he said “Buhari is not even analogue. He can’t even use a telephone by himself”.
- Witch hunting
A very popular term among the ruling class and opposition used to deflect the people from facts on ground. The cold war between Senate President Bukola Saraki and Sowore has been ongoing for a while, rife with legal interventions, accusations of falsehood (by Saraki) and witch hunting (by Sowore), the latest is the accusation that Saraki was responsible for the blocking of his Gofundme account, set up to generate donations for his campaign.
“It just came to my notice that the Kwara thief who leads the Nigerian Senate and his apprentices were behind the reporting of our GoFundMe fundraising as “Fraud”. We learned he panicked soon as he saw that Nigerians were supporting our Revolutionary Movement. This Act In Itself Will Not Delay His Day Of Judgement”. He said.
Sowore’s activism
In 1989, Sowore was part of the students who protested against the conditions to reduce the number of Universities in the Country from 28 to just 5 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan of $120 million to be used for a Nigerian oil pipeline.
His involvement in anti-military demonstrations and student unionism led to his being elected as President of the Student Union Government at the University of Lagos from 1992 to 1994.
Sowore was also arrested and interrogated in some of those student’s anti-government protests, but that didn’t deter him from being an active participant in the June 12 democracy struggle. So close to the struggle was Sowore he was seen with MKO Abiola at the peak of the matter.
He, however, fled the Country in 1999 to the United States of America, where he continued in his anti-corruption fight more effectively this time with the inception of SaharaReporters six years later.
SaharaReporters’ anti-corruption war
SaharaReporters, referred to as the Wikileaks of Africa, is renowned for revealing information which had led to the indictment and prosecution of some corrupt government officials, while others are still disputed. It gets financial backing from grants and donations from foundations (Ford Foundation and Omidyar Foundation).
- Emmanuel Enaboifo; following SaharaReporters’ revelation that he was a fugitive convicted of bank fraud in the United States, Enaboifo stepped down from his appointment as Finance Director of a binational commission overseeing activities in the oil-rich zone owned by Nigeria and Sao Tome & Principe.
- Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello; In 2008, SaharaReporters also revealed that former Senator and daughter of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Iyabo Obasanjo was a fugitive and wanted in the United States over a case of child custody.
- Farida Waziri; with documentary evidence, SaharaReporters accused Waziri, former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), of embezzling the agency’s funds, as well as receiving bribes from Governors and Ministers to ignore their corrupt practices. She was later fired from the Commission, with corruption as part of her offence.
- Ibrahim Idris Lawal; the Inspector General of Police, IGP Idris has also come under fire from the SaharaReporters, with the reporters claiming to have obtained documentary evidence that showed the IGP ordered the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of the Force Criminal intelligence and Investigation Department (FCIID) to hands off the case of ‘certificate forgery’ against Senator representing Anambra State, Andy Uba. Excerpts from the order personally signed by the IGP read; “It has been observed with dismay that you have formed the habit of receiving and investigating complaints/petitions addressed to your office without referring same to me for clearance. This practice has to stop forthwith, while petitions against Andy Uba that you are handling be forwarded to me without delay. This is for strict compliance,” stated the IGP in the personally signed letter.
- Goodluck Ebele Jonathan; SaharaReporters leaked the letter sent to the former President Jonathan issued by a commanding officer, in which he decried the ill-equipped and underfunded state of the armed forces in fighting Boko Haram insurgency.
In an interview with Premiumtimes in 2014, Sowore asserted that Jonathan’s government was the worst government,
“In an order of successive administrations in my lifetime I think this would be the worst in terms of delivery of services, in terms of organisation, in terms of even the style of governance, in terms of transparency, in terms of economic management and of course in terms of security. So this is the worst government in my lifetime that I have seen. You would say maybe Abacha was worse but you can understand Abacha was a military dictator. Nobody voted for him”.
- Godswill Akpabio; SaharaReporters also revealed that the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Akpabio, blew $10 million over twenty-five trips or 600 hours of service. It also showed pictures of Mr. Akpabio operating a foreign account as a serving Senator.
- Bukola Saraki; SaharaReporters also revealed alleged collusion between Senate President and Code of Conduct Tribunal, Justice Umar Danladi, in a bribery deal of $2million brokered by Isa Yuguda, former Governor of Bauchi State.
- John Kennedy Okpara; the former Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission was revealed to have delivered millions of naira in bribes to some Christian pastors, soliciting votes for former President Goodluck Jonathan
- Offer of “Transportation”; It was SR that revealed that Tunde Bakare led Save Nigeria group was offered bribe in the name of transportation but it rejected it. Bakare was later to say he had not left Aso Rock when he heard Sahara Reporters had broken the News.
What becomes of SaharaReporters?
Perceived to be the media that puts the government on its toes, some are apprehensive that SaharaReporters’ may become lax in curtailing government excesses, should Sowore emerge the President. Others opine that Sowore’s interest in the Presidency has affected Sahara Reporters’ fairness in recent time. What seems obvious is how petty the media house can be especially with its social media handle.
Reacting to this in an interview with TheCable, Sowore said he would be resigning from his editorial position and turn in the financial holdings of SaharaReporters to a blind trust.
“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”.
