Richard Akinnola
In 1978, Gani Fawehinmi was dubiously charged to court for “stealing”. Guess what he “stole”? His own camera! Of course, Chief Magistrate Moni Fafiade dismissed the frivolous charge.
Now, in the year of our Lord 2019, Omoyele Sowore, among other charges, is accused of laundering $19,975 of his own money, by transferring the said sum from his account, into the account of Sahara Reporters, his own company! INTERESTING. No longer that he collected millions of dollars in Dubai to destabilize the country, as the DSS initially stated in its affidavit to keep him perpetually in detention. When Sowore countered that he had never been to Dubai in his life, the charges against him were silent on Dubai but on laundering his own $19,975!
I have said it before and l wish to reiterate, that the tradition of organised human rights we started on October 15, 1987, is blind to the victim of injustice. You don’t have to like Sowore to be concerned about this abuse. Beko Ransome-kuti was a long-term adversary of Obasanjo. But when Abacha unjustly detained and charged Obasanjo to a military tribunal over the 1995 phantom coup plot, Beko put aside their personal animosity and obtained a copy of the tribunal judgment against Obasanjo, faxed it abroad, as part of advocacy for his release. The fax was intercepted by security agencies and Beko was arrested, hauled before the tribunal and jailed for being an accessory after the fact of treason. Beko was acting based on principle of fight against injustice and not the personality of Obasanjo.
So, you don’t need to like Sowore to dislike the charade that is going on over his travails. But if you gloat over his travails, your own time is coming, trust me. Waiting for how the trial would go. Interesting times ahead.
