Full Name: Omoyele “Yele” Sowore
Date of Birth: 16 February 1971.
Nationality: Nigerian
Marriage status: Married.
Spouse(s): Opeyemi Oluwole Sowore
Alma mater: University of Lagos, Columbia University.
Occupation: Human Rights Activist, Blogger, Writer, Lecturer, Politician.
Political party: African Action Congress (AAC).
Website: https://saharareporters.com
Twitter:@YeleSowore
Omoyele Sowore was born on February 16th, 1971 in Kiribo, a suburban town in Ese-Odo local government area of Ondo State, Nigeria. He is a human rights activist, writer, lecturer and founder of the popular online news agency Sahara Reporters. Sowore is a presidential candidate who ran under the flagship of African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 elections, he is again, the African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate for 2023 election.
Omoyele Sowore Early Life and Educational Background
Born into a polygamous family made of sixteen children, Sowore developed his passion for the media in the days of military rule in Nigeria. He had his secondary education at two institutions – Community High School, Kiribo (1985) and Ofedepe High School Okitipupa (1987).
He thereafter, proceeded to the University of Lagos where he graduated with a degree in Geography and Planning in 1995 where he also suffered two extra years after being expelled twice for political and student activism offences. In 2003, he received a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Columbia University in the City of New York, USA.
Career
In 1989, he took part in student demonstrations protesting the conditions of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan of $120 million to be used for a Nigerian oil pipeline. Included among the conditions of the IMF loan, was a reduction in the number of universities in Nigeria from 28 to 5. Sowore led 5,100 students in protest against the Nigerian government in 1992. The protest resulted in police opening fire and killing seven protesters. Sowore was arrested and tortured. Omoyele was also involved in the demand for a democratic government to take over military rule on June 12, 1993. This resulted in several arrests, detentions and life-threatening treatment by government officials.
His passion to impact lives positively made him take on a job as a lecturer of Modern African History at the City University of New York, as well as Post-Colonial African History at the School of Art, New York.
Sahara Reporters
Sahara Reporters is a media company founded by Omoyele Sowore. He started Sahara Reporters in 2006, in a small room in Manhattan, he began the news website so he could run a platform where he can fight against corrupt government practices in Nigeria. Sahara Reporters is supported through financial grants by the Ford Foundation and Omidyar Foundation. As one of its standing policies, Sahara Reporters does not accept advert proposals and financial support from the Nigerian government.
Political Career
On the 25th of February, 2018, Sowore announced his intention to run for president in the 2019 Nigerian general election. In August 2018, he founded a political party called the African Action Congress (AAC) on which platform he will run for the presidency in 2019. On the 6th of October, 2018, Sowore emerged as the presidential candidate for the party but later went on to lose the election. He has also emerged as the presidential candidate for African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 presidential election.
Personal Life
Sowore is married with children. He and his family have been residing in Haworth, New Jersey, his wife’s name is Opeyemi Oluwole Sowore. She is a Nigerian-American. She came to public view when she led a protest for the release of Sowore after the journalist was rearrested by the Department of State Services. Sowore had been arrested on charges of threat to National Security including treasonable felony, cyberstalking and money laundering on December 6, being earlier arrested on August 3, 2019.
On September 24, 2019, Opeyemi Sowore led several protests and discourses at the United Nations plaza over the detention of her husband by the Department of State Services. The protests were advocacy for global intervention for Democracy and the US Senate intervention in the release of Sowore.
Source: Wikipedia, naijabiography.