2019!!SOWOORE ,A LONG DISTANCE RUNNER
BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU[LAGOS,NIGERIA]
If you as much as think that business man ,scholar and media
baron Mr Omoyele Sowoore will bow out of the scene if he loses out of The
Presidential contest in 2019 then you
are making a grave error.
Checks by The News office Desk of the E.N.M Paedia Express Multimedia
Group of Lagos,Nigeria shows that Sowoore who is the Founder of Sahara
Reporters will not go down without a fight .
A source very close to him in a brief chat with this
reporter said that Sowoore 's Presidential aspirations and dream was a long term project and that
even if he does not succeed 2019 he will han on to the struggle with his plans.
BIODATA
Omoyele Sowore (born 16 February 1971) is a Nigerian human rights activist, pro-democracy
campaigner and founder of online news agency Sahara
Reporters.[1]
Early
life and education
Sowore is an indigene of ilaje Ondo State
in South West Nigeria. He was born in the Niger Delta region of the country
where he was also raised in a polygamous home with sixteen children.[2]
At 12, he learnt how to ride a motorcycle so that he could fish at the lake for
the entire family before going to school every morning. His passion and desire
for media was propelled during the military rule in Nigeria.[3]
Sowore studied Geography and
Regional Planning at the University of Lagos from 1989 to 1995 with his
academic program extended by two extra years after being expelled twice for
political reasons and student activism. He was the President of the University
of Lagos Student Union Government between 1992 and 1994[4]
where he was keenly involved in anti-cultism and anti-corruption advocacy. He
holds a Master degree in Public Administration from Columbia University. [5]
Career
Activism
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. Among the conditions of
the IMF loan were to reduce the number of universities in the country from 28
to 5.[6]
Sowore led 5,100 students in protest
against the Nigerian government in 1992. The protest resulted in police opening
fire and seven being killed. Sowore was arrested and tortured. He was also
involved in the demand for democratic government taking over military rule in June
12, 1993. This resulted in several arrests, detentions and life threatening
treatment by government officials.[7]
Sahara
Reporters
Sowore started Sahara
Reporters in a small room in Manhattan 2006 to fight against corrupt
and wrong government practices.[5]
Sahara Reporters is supported by grants donated by the Ford
Foundation and Omidyar
Foundation. As part of its policy, the medium does not accept
adverts and financial support from the Nigerian government.[8]
Presidential
campaign
On February 25, 2018, Sowore
announced his intention to run for president in the 2019 Nigerian general election.[9]
In August 2018, he founded a political party, the African Action Congress
(AAC), for which he will run for in 2019.[10]
.
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