Omoyele Sowore Biography, Age, Education, Career and Net Worth

Biography

Nigerian human rights campaigner Omoyele Sowore, better known as Yele Sowore, was born on February 16, 1971, in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. Ondo State in the southwest of Nigeria, Omoyele Sowore was born in Ese-Odo. He is 50 years old and celebrates his birthday on the 16th of February every year. Having come from a polygamous household with sixteen children, Sowore learnt to ride a motorbike at the early age of 12 so that he could provide for his family before he began his trip to school.

The military government in Nigeria sparked his interest in the media, which kept him up to date on all the latest developments in Nigeria.

Education

At a young age, Omoyele Sowore began his formal schooling, first in a basic elementary school and subsequently in a secondary school. Sowore went on to study Geography and Planning at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree somewhere between 1989 and 1995. As an undergraduate, he began his political and activist career and was expelled twice before he graduated from the institution.

During this time, he served as president of the Student Union and participated in various student protests. When Omoyele Sowore was admitted to Columbia University’s School of Public Administration after receiving medical treatment in New York City in 1999, he opted to remain in the nation to complete his master’s degree in public administration.

Career

Sowore Omoyele Because his whole life has been dedicated to activism, it’s no surprise that in 2019, he ran for Nigerian president as a candidate for African Action Congress (AAC), losing to Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Party (APC). While in New York City in 2006, he founded the prominent news agency Sahara Reporters, which has since become one of the most popular in the Middle East.

At the City University of New York, Sowore teaches Modern African History. He also teaches Postcolonial African History at the School of Art, in New York City.

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Sowore Activism

When Yele Sowore was an undergraduate, he was renowned as a tireless advocate for the rights of others, particularly students, which led to his election as president of the University of Lagos Student Union Government.

In several of the rallies against the administration in Nigeria, against injustice and corruption, he has also made his views known. For his part, he led a protest in 1989 against an IMF loan of $120 million for oil pipelines in Nigeria, which had a precondition connected to it: a reduction from 28 to 5 colleges in the country’s educational system.

To add to his list of accomplishments, Sowore led an approximately 5,000-person student demonstration in 1992 that culminated in the deaths of seven demonstrators when police opened fire. On June 12, 1993, he was also part of a demonstration calling for an end to Nigeria’s military dictatorship in favour of democratic leadership.

As a result of his tenacity, the government has used a variety of methods to silence him, including beatings, arrests, and torture. In 2021, Olajide Sowore, his younger brother, was assassinated by Fulani herders in Edo State in what was believed to be a conspiracy to silence the #RevolutionNow convener. Olajide was shot in the head.

Treason Charges & Arrests

A petition from magazine publisher Lekan Fatodu prompted the 2017 arrest of Omoyele Sowore by the Lagos State Police Command; shortly after, Sowore recorded himself confessing to the assault he had suffered at the hands of Fatodu while under the protection of Nigerian police officers at Area F police station. Oby Ezekwesili and Professor SWole Soyinka were among those who criticized DSS’s detention of Omoyele Sowore on the 3rd of August 2019 during the countrywide demonstration of the #RevolutionNow protest against the government of Nigeria.

Sowore was charged with “Conspiracy to commit treason and Insulting the President” upon her detention. In September 2019, the Federal High Court in Abuja granted him bail on the condition that he surrender his international passport. Because they say they were unaware of a court order granting bail, the DSS is refusing to release him.

Family Life

New Jersey-based Omoyele Sowore is married to Opeyemi Oluwole Sowore, a Nigerian-American woman, for more than 17 years and they have two children. There have been several rallies and interviews with her husband’s wife in support of her husband’s release.

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Conclusion

It is unknown how much money Omoyele Sowore is worth, although he is a well-known journalist and publisher who has received funds from the Ford Foundation and the Omidyar Foundation.