Sowore: I suffered more arrests under Tinubu than during the military era

Omoyele Sowore, former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), has revealed that his experiences under Nigeria’s civilian government in 2025 have been harsher than during the military regime, describing a period marked by arrests, intimidation, and restrictions on his freedom.

His comments were made on Friday during an appearance on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels TV.

“The society though takes it for granted that this is democracy. So, we had no guards. We just let down our guards walking into the darkness of what they call democracy without being in that kind of added position that we were under military rule,” Sowore said.

“So, by the time we discovered that we are dealing with monsters, it was probably too late. Because, I have suffered more arrests in 2025 than I suffered in the period of 1989 and 1996 when I graduated from the university.”

Sowore recounted that during his early activism, he had been detained briefly by the Department of State Services (DSS) while at the University of Lagos, and again during his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) posting in Yola.

“They arrested me, and released me after a while even without a court order,” he said. Yet, he added, “since I’ve been under civilian rule, I’ve spent a longer time – abducted in the courtroom under democracy. I was beaten up, rough handled, tortured. I have been restricted to Abuja for three years.”

Highlighting the stark contrast between military and civilian enforcement, Sowore pointed out.

“My passport was never seized under the military even though I didn’t have a passport technically under the military because I didn’t travel anywhere. But, they had always put me on watchlist. The fact that people change uniforms do not mean that they changed their conducts. I didn’t think that after all the years under military rule somebody is going to seize my passport at the airport.”

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