Human rights activist and politician Omoyele Sowore has said he has faced more arrests under Nigeria’s democratic governments than during military regimes.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Inside Sources on Friday, Sowore recalled that he was arrested only twice under military rule, contrasting sharply with his experiences under civilian administrations.
“I have suffered more arrests in 2025 than I did between 1989 and 1996, when I graduated from university,” Sowore said. “I was arrested by the DSS once, even though we fought the military, maybe twice. When I was at the University of Lagos, I was abducted and detained for about two weeks. Later, during my NYSC in Yola, I was arrested and held for a week without a court order. But since civilian rule began, I have spent months in detention—I spent five months in DSS custody and was even abducted from a courtroom under democracy.”
The 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress also disclosed that he currently faces around nine ongoing court cases filed against him by the Federal Government and the police.
