• Frowns on injustice, ethnic bias
• Police declare activist wanted over planned protest in Lagos
• Sowore faults ‘wanted’ declaration, says police ignored his calls
Human rights activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has emphasised that the country cannot continue to pretend to be one country while some citizens are treated as second-class within the same entity.
Sowore, while calling on Nigerian leaders to embrace justice, fairness, and equality as the foundation for national unity, maintained that no nation built on oppression and inequality could genuinely claim to be united.
He spoke in Akure, the Ondo State capital, during the 2025 end-of-year celebration of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ondo State chapter, decrying what he described as “systemic hypocrisy” in Nigeria’s treatment of ethnic groups.
He said, “We cannot have unity without justice. We cannot say we need unity when some people are treated as superior and others as inferior. We cannot have unity in a country where someone’s business is demolished simply because the government dislikes their ethnicity.
“We cannot have unity in a country where terrorists are treated better than freedom fighters. I am talking directly about Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and others who struggle for the freedom of their people.
“There is no crime in demanding justice or self-determination. Nigeria was not created by Nigerians but by the British. So, if we must continue as one nation, we must respect everyone who calls himself a Nigerian.”
Sowore, an advocate for Kanu’s release, faulted the Federal Government for detaining him for over five years without a clear definition of his alleged crimes.
The activist also criticised Nigeria’s political class for ignoring the cries of the masses until foreign powers begin to embarrass them.
Sowore cautioned Nigerian leaders against inviting foreign countries to intervene in Nigeria’s affairs, warning that such moves would only worsen the situation.
Meanwhile, Lagos State Police Command has declared Sowore wanted for allegedly plotting to instigate public unrest and obstruct major roads in the state.
The state’s Commissioner of Police, Olohundare Jimoh, disclosed this yesterday, while briefing journalists at the Iyana-Oworo section of the Third Mainland Bridge.
However, Sowore has faulted the CP over his alleged declaration as a wanted person, saying the police boss has refused to take his calls despite repeated attempts to reach him.
Sowore, who reacted on his social media handle yesterday, described the development as an attempt to silence him and distort the facts surrounding events in the Oworonsoki area of Lagos, where police officers had earlier disrupted a planned gathering.
