The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 general elections, Omoyele Sowore, says he has not seen his wife for five years.
He revealed this while reacting to the recent court verdict that ordered the Federal Government to discontinue the treasonable felony charge levelled against him and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare.
Sowore and Bakare were prosecuted by the immediate past regime for calling for a nationwide #RevolutionNow protest against former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Sowore said he hadn’t seen his wife in about five years, since after his arrest in 2019.
He said, “After my arrest, I was released twice. And the first time I was released, the next day I was abducted in front of a judge. So my release wasn’t done out of any generosity. It was a judgement of the court that was implemented after a lot of pressure.
“I knew from the beginning that my release wasn’t going anywhere. I knew even before we did the protest that my role was historical, so it had happened before, and it’s important to understand the mentality of our government. It’s to first and foremost suppress whatever is the truth, things that they are not comfortable with.
“And the former government of Buhari was notorious for this. It led to a lot of loss of lives. He destroyed the economy but did everything to ensure that this country did not survive him. But I happened to have survived him.
“Not once did they do this. The police shot at me at close range with a gun breaking my face. I was attacked several times by state-sponsored thugs. My brother was shot dead. My mum fell ill and had stroke. My kids grew up without me. I hadn’t seen my wife in five years, since 2019. But I weathered the storm. I Knew that if you went through the direction that I chose in life, this was going to happen to you.”