A former student activist has recounted how Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters and human rights campaigner, intervened in 1998/1999 to save the academic career of Lere Olayinka, now a spokesperson for former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike.
Rotimi Ola, in a detailed recollection, narrated that the incident happened at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Ogba, Lagos, where students were being victimised by the authorities. He said Tunde Oladunjoye, a fellow member of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), invited him and Sowore to join a protest at the campus.
According to Ola, Sowore led a delegation that included Comrade Adekunle Ayoola of LASPOTECH. Their arrival immediately shifted the tense atmosphere on campus. “The authorities, who had been high-handed, suddenly softened when Sowore and his team arrived,” he recalled.
After a spirited demonstration, the school management agreed to meet with students and resolved the matter, ensuring that those targeted by the administration, including Olayinka, were not expelled or barred from completing their studies.
But the activism did not end there. The group reportedly moved to protest WAEC-related issues nearby, only for the police to swoop in. Ola recounted how they were arrested, beaten, and later charged with “conduct likely to cause a breach of public peace” at the Magistrate Court in Ogba.
He added that human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), secured their bail the following day, effectively ending the case.
“Without Sowore’s intervention that day, Lere Olayinka might never have secured the modest diploma in journalism certificate he now leans on to survive,” Ola concluded.
