I have read a lot of comments from analysts and opinion shapers mocking the publisher of Sahara Reporters- Omoyele Sowore- for his current travails which began on Saturday, 3rd August 2019 when he was picked up by men later identified to be operatives of Nigeria’s secret police- the DSS. Sowore was arrested in Lagos on a Saturday- about 48 hours before the commencement of a nationwide protest he scheduled for the next Monday in collaboration with several pro-democracy groups tagged #RevolutionNow.
Mr Sowore was at the centre of preparation for the much publicised rally when he was arrested and hounded to Abuja for “plotting to overthrow the legitimately elected government of President Muhammadu Buhari” according to a DSS spokesman. The DSS- perhaps- afraid of the mass support the publisher would garner across Nigeria stepped in at the nick of time to stop the proposed protest by arresting its chief proponent. It is a classicwar strategy as shared by the popular author Robert Greene who advised thus: Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.
In the introduction into his best selling 48 Laws of Power, Greene said….
Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual — the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoner of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them — they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.
This understanding may have informed the decision of the DSS to nip Sowore’s proposed revolution in the bud before it ever got a chance to blossom.
Some have opined that Sowore deserves his current ordeals for the role he played in demonizing the administration of Goodluck Jonathan which General Buhari profited largely from. Some have gone ahead to allege that Sowore was actually on the payroll of the very people who bankrolled Buhari’s election in 2015 including former governors Bola Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi. Sowore, his accusers said, was gifted a house by Bola Tinubu and placed on a monthly salary scale that fetched him 5 million naira monthly while Rotimi Amaechi offered him something in the neighborhood of N3 million per month.
All of these are allegations. There is no way of verifying them- without the testimonies of the individuals directly involved- whether Sowore was paid to paint the Jonathan administration in bad light or not. What is however certain is that Sowore published several reports that were uncomplimentary to the Jonathan administration. He (medium) called the former president and his wife unprintable names and never hid his desire to see the regime headed by the Bayelsa born academic sacked.
Sowore told Nigerians that the Jonathan government was neck deep in corruption, his medium was amongst the first to publish former CBN governor’s- now Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi- unsubstantiated report that $20 billion was unaccounted for by the NNPC and thus missing from the treasury.
Sahara Reporters hounded Stella Odua, Barth Nnaji and others until they threw in the towel and left public service. Sowore also had a public spat with the then minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy who accused the publisher of invading his privacy when he called her on a line she said was dedicated for family alone.
Negative news against the Jonathan government was a daily staple at Sahara Reporters- the death of applicants in the ill-fated recruitment conducted by Abba Moro’s ministry of Interior for a few openings at the Nigerian Immigration Services, the controversial abduction of girls at a Chibok School, the ill-health and medical trips of Patience Jonathan, the hounding a Nigerian plane on a mission to acquire arms from the black market in South Africa after Obama had refused to sell to Nigeria for nebulous reasons and of course- Alison Madueke’s excesses.
Sahara Reporters never gave Jonathan and his government a moment of respite.
But Jonathan took everything in his stride and never harassed or hounded the former student activist and other critics of the administration. He was a democrat and had no qualms with citizens asking questions or making demands on their government. Jonathan was a refined man- which unfortunately- Nigerians mistook for weakness and asked for a strong leader.
Muhammadu Buhari was the strong leader that emerged in response to the electoral demands and yearnings of Nigerians despite the repeated call for caution by a few men who stuck to their guns and insisted that a leopard cannot change its spot. Femi Aribisala, Amanze Obi, Shaka Momudu and a few other informed journalists warned Nigeria that a man with Buhari’s history and antecedent would hardly appreciate democracy- even in one hundred years- no matter his claims to the contrary.
But make no mistake. Sowore is not the victim here and those who accuse him of reaping the resulting whirlwind from the wind he sowed are only being clever by half. Buhari is not the first president Sowore criticized. Sowore stood and fought against the Abacha government alongside MKO Abiola, he was vehement against General Olusegun Obasanjo, he never spared Yar’adua and interestingly- none of these men came after him- none sent soldiers to the office of Sahara Reporters for any reason and none threw him into DSS detention nor asked that he be remanded for 45 or whatever number of days. Sowore was treated by previous administrations as a tiny irritant to be ignored to continue his “folly.”
But Buhari is a different man.
The recent report that Sowore has been charged for “insulting the president and wiring money to Nigeria from New York” is as ridiculous as any antic of a dictator. When did “insulting” a president amount to a treasonable felony? When did Nigeria become Paul Biya’s Cameroun? Is this the democracy Sowore himself risked his life fighting for?
Who brought this plague on the land? Who cursed Nigeria with a leader so blighted by ignorance of the ethics of democratic leadership that every question by citizens is seen as an affront and a threat to his throne?
Who will be picked up next?
May Nigeria not sink!