Mr. Omoyele Sowore, publisher of SaharaReporters, does not see himself as having “made it big” and says he has no car or house and struggles to pay his bill like everyone else. In this exclusive interview, Sowore revealed the hitherto unknown information about himself and his platform. He also speaks about his childhood and what drove him into activism, his foray into the United States of America, his issues with embattled Senate President Bukola Saraki, Stella Oduah and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
People want to know the man behind Sahara Reporters? What are your motivations? Why do you do what you do? Is the website solely owned by you?
I am motivated by the desire to exchange information with others. I am naturally opposed to maintaining the status quo, especially where the status quo is unjust. I love to shake things up. So it was a great moment when the Internet offered me the tool to bring about an interactive mass media platform for Nigerians and other Africans. Governments—I mean, shady governments—hate the interaction between citizens. We’ve accomplished that task of creating interaction and massive engagement using a wide variety of tools on the Internet including those of disruptive technology. To your question about ownership, I founded SaharaReporters but it is owned by all of its users, contributors and writers.
When was the turning point in your life? When did you decide to start fighting for people’s rights?
On Christmas Eve in 1980, when I was 10 years old, I was woken up when the Nigerian police force invaded my village over a marketplace dispute. Our people were humiliated, abused and raped that night. The next day more police came and lined up people they suspected of participating in the melee the day before. They hit one of the fathers of the suspects in the village and his tooth fell out. I was angry, but couldn’t do anything about it. But that was the day I decided I would fight back against the federal republic of injustice.
Could you give us a quick story of how you started and how you made it big?
I hate to claim that I have made it big. It is a jargon that I think belongs to the hip-hop scene. I am not rich. Like everyone else here,
