Profile
| Born | 16 February 1971, Ese-Odo, Ondo State, Nigeria |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Nigerian |
| Education | BSc Geography and Planning, University of Lagos; Master’s in Public Administration, Columbia University |
| Occupation | Journalist, publisher, human rights activist, politician |
| Political party | African Action Congress (2018–present) |
| Known for | Founder of Sahara Reporters; presidential candidate in 2019 and 2023; #RevolutionNow protests |
| Spouse | Opeyemi Sowore (married 2004) |
Personal Life
Sowore has been married to Opeyemi Sowore since 2004, and the family has lived in Haworth, New Jersey, in the United States.
Early Life and Student Activism
Sowore was born in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region and is from Ese-Odo in Ondo State.
He was raised in a polygamous household of 16 children and has said that, from around age 12, he rode a motorcycle to a lake each morning to fish for food for his family before school.
He studied Geography and Planning at the University of Lagos from 1989 to 1995, a program extended after he was expelled twice over student activism, and served as President of the university’s Student Union Government from 1992 to 1994.
In 1992, he led a protest of 5,100 students against the Nigerian government that ended when police opened fire, killing 7 protesters; Sowore was arrested and, according to his own accounts, tortured.
He was also active in the pro-democracy movement following the annulment of the 12 June 1993 election. He later earned a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University in the United States.
Founding Sahara Reporters
Sowore founded Sahara Reporters in New York City in 2006 as a citizen-journalism outlet focused on exposing government corruption in Nigeria.
The organisation has drawn grant funding from the Ford Foundation and the Omidyar Network and, as a matter of policy, does not accept advertising or financial support from the Nigerian government.
The 2019 Presidential Run and the RevolutionNow Arrest
Sowore announced his intention to run for president in February 2018 and founded the African Action Congress that August, emerging as its unopposed presidential candidate that October.
In the 2019 general election, he placed among the leading minor-party candidates with 33,953 votes, behind winner Muhammadu Buhari and runner-up Atiku Abubakar.
Ahead of a planned nationwide protest he had called #RevolutionNow, Sowore was arrested by the DSS on 3 August 2019 and was later charged with conspiracy to commit treason and insulting President Buhari.
He was granted bail by the Federal High Court in Abuja on 24 September 2019, but the DSS did not release him, prompting protests led by his wife outside the Nigerian mission at the UN Plaza in New York.
Describing conditions during his detention, Sowore told The Cable that Boko Haram commanders held on terrorism charges had “access to telephone, TV and even cable in their cells,” while he was denied the same.
He was freed on 5 December 2019 after meeting his bail conditions, only to be violently re-arrested by DSS operatives inside the courthouse the following day; he was finally released on 24 December 2019.
In March 2022, a Nigerian court declared his original 2019 arrest illegal. In December 2021, a separate court ordered the DSS to pay him ₦2 million over the unlawful seizure of his phone at the time of his 2019 arrest.
Continued Arrests and Protests
Sowore’s confrontations with Nigerian security forces continued after his release. He was arrested and assaulted during a protest in Abuja on 1 January 2021, and was injured by a police officer during a separate protest that May.
In September 2021, his younger brother was shot dead in Edo State, in an attack attributed to herdsmen or kidnappers; a travel restriction imposed on Sowore by the Federal High Court at the time meant he was unable to attend the burial.
In March 2022, he sued the Nigeria Police Force and others for ₦200 million over an earlier arrest. In September 2024, Nigeria’s Immigration Service detained him at Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed Airport on his return from the United States and briefly seized his passport, citing an alleged planned protest, before releasing him.
The 2023 Presidential Campaign
Sowore announced his second presidential run in March 2022 and again stood as the AAC’s candidate in the 2023 general election, which was won by Bola Tinubu.
He received 14,608 votes, a result he described as reflecting a flawed process he called a “selection” rather than an election.
The 2025–2026 Cyberbullying Case
On 25 August 2025, Sowore posted messages on his verified X account and Facebook page describing President Tinubu as a “criminal” and disputing the president’s claims about the level of corruption in Nigeria.
According to the DSS, the posts were false and capable of causing a breakdown in law and order. After Sowore declined the agency’s requests to delete the posts, the DSS filed a five-count charge in September 2025 against Sowore, X Corp and Meta Platforms, later narrowed to an amended two-count charge against Sowore alone, filed on 5 December 2025, in a case marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025. He pleaded not guilty and was granted bail on self-recognition. His trial began on 22 January 2026.
In April 2026 his lawyers filed a no-case submission arguing the prosecution had not linked him to the alleged offences; the court rejected it on 8 May 2026 and ordered him to open his defence.
Sowore’s bail was revoked after he failed to appear in court on 16 June 2026, and he was remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending a hearing on his challenge to that revocation. The human rights group SERAP called on the Tinubu government to act, saying “must immediately release Sowore and drop all the bogus charges against him.”
On 30 June 2026, the court granted him fresh bail, requiring two sureties, each to sign a ₦200 million bond, one of whom had to be a traditional ruler from his home community in Ondo State, and ordering him to surrender his international passport to the court.
In August 2026, the DSS reportedly moved to suspend the case until after the 2027 election, citing a wish to let Sowore campaign freely, a proposal Sowore and his allies rejected as insufficient, calling instead for the case to be withdrawn entirely.
By late September 2026, the DSS had reversed that plan, and the case was set to continue, with the next hearing for Sowore to continue his defence fixed for 2 October 2026. No verdict has been reached, and none of the allegations against Sowore have been proven in court.
Case Timeline
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| 25 August 2025 | Sowore posts messages describing President Tinubu as a “criminal” |
| September 2025 | DSS files a five-count charge against Sowore, X Corp and Meta Platforms |
| 5 December 2025 | Amended two-count charge filed against Sowore alone; he pleads not guilty and is granted bail on self-recognition |
| 22 January 2026 | Trial begins |
| 8 May 2026 | Court rejects Sowore’s no-case submission, orders him to open his defence |
| 16 June 2026 | Sowore misses a scheduled court date; his bail is subsequently revoked |
| 30 June 2026 | Court grants fresh bail with a ₦200 million bond and surrender of his passport |
| August 2026 | DSS reportedly seeks to suspend the case until after the 2027 election |
| 27 September 2026 | Sowore returns to Nigeria to resume his 2027 presidential campaign |
| 2 October 2026 | Case scheduled to continue, with the DSS ruling out a long adjournment |
The 2027 Campaign
Sowore is again the AAC’s presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
According to the party, his time in the United States before his September 2026 return included meetings with Nigerians in the diaspora and a solidarity march for Palestine in New York, alongside his renewed call for Nigerians abroad to be granted voting rights.
The AAC described his return as the start of a new phase of the campaign, quoting him as saying he was “determined to continue the struggle.”
Sources
- Wikipedia — Omoyele Sowore
- Wikipedia — Omoyele Sowore Treason Charges
- The Cable — Sowore: DSS Denied Me Telephone Access but Granted Same to Boko Haram Commanders
- Arise News — DSS Trial of Sowore Over Alleged Cyberbullying of President Tinubu Begins January 22
- The Advocate — Court Sets May 8 for Ruling on Sowore’s Cyberbullying Case Against Tinubu
- ThisDay Live — Court Grants Sowore Bail, Sets Fresh Conditions for Release
- SERAP — ‘Immediately Release Omoyele Sowore’, SERAP Tells Tinubu Govt
- Channels Television — Alleged Cyberbullying: Sowore to Continue Defence as DSS Rules Out Long Adjournment
- Sahara Reporters — Sowore Returns to Nigeria Sunday, Set to Resume Nationwide 2027 Presidential Campaign
- Opinion Nigeria — Sowore’s Cyberstalking Trial and the Moral Bankruptcy of Suspending Justice for an Election
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