Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 election, was detained upon his arrival at Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos, early Sunday morning. His passport was seized by immigration officials, acting on a directive from the Department of State Services (DSS), which had issued a memo calling for his arrest ahead of his return to Nigeria.
In an exclusive interview with Arise News From 2:25, Sowore revealed that he had anticipated this development but remained resolute in his decision to return to Nigeria. He expressed that his return was tied to an ongoing legal case, stating:
“I had decided I was coming back to Nigeria because I had a case coming up soon, and nothing was going to stop me. So I packed my bags, got on the plane, and arrived this morning in Lagos from the US. After almost 14 hours of flying, only to get to the Immigration people, and they seized my passport and said I have been ordered arrested.”
Sowore emphasized that his expectation of the arrest was not born out of fear but a firm belief in his rights as a Nigerian citizen. He described the incident as a matter of “ego, right, and existence,” questioning why any Nigerian should feel afraid in their own country due to the actions of those in power:
“Of course, I was expecting it. It was a matter of ego, it was a matter of right, it was a matter of existence. I’m a Nigerian, and I don’t think any Nigerian should be afraid of your own country simply because some people are going haywire in office or in power.”
