Civil Society Organisations under the Independent Public Service and Accountability Watch and Allied Civil Society Organisations, have on Wednesday embarked on a peaceful rally to the National Assembly (NASS), demanding an immediate and prosecution of Omoyele Sowore, for alleged “malicious blackmail” under the guise of activism.
The protesters also accused Sowore of using his online media platform to engage in “digital terrorism,” calculated character assassination and in seeds of disdain and despair in the minds of young Nigerians, turning them against their country.
Co-Convener of the group, Adeniran Taiwo who is Publicity Officer of the Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative (TADI), noted that Sowore’s criticisms were not borne of patriotism, but of “personal bitterness and a bloated sense of self-righteousness.”
While adding that Sowore does not see anything good in Nigeria, he however clarified that his mindset was not because there’s nothing good in Nigeria, but because he has trained himself to see only through the lens of conflict.
He said: “We are here today to address a pattern of reckless rascality disguised as activism—one that has become a dangerous virus in our national life, championed by none other than Omoyele Sowore.
“What began as a promising voice of dissent has now descended into a toxic cocktail of arrogance, misinformation, and deliberate blackmail. Sowore has transformed Sahara Reporters into a tool of personal vengeance—publishing unverified, malicious stories designed not to enlighten, but to destroy. It has become a theatre of ego and vendetta rather than truth.
“Let it be made clear: activism is not lawlessness. It is not the abuse of digital freedom, nor a free pass to lie without consequence. But this is the line Sowore has consistently crossed. He has substituted sincerity with sensationalism.
“Sowore has made a career of malicious blackmail, targeting individuals and institutions with reckless abandon. For example, he falsely and viciously targeted Bukola Saraki, launching a barrage of scandalous accusations with no solid proof—just bile and bravado. He even stooped low to attack Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a woman whose global integrity in governance and finance stands as one of Nigeria’s brightest lights. And for what? To feed a narrative that suits his chaos-driven relevance.
“He did not spare his longtime friend – Lekan Fatodu – a UK based journalist whom he blackmailed and was arrested for. He blackmailed Peter Obi and several other political figures to the extent the title of blackmailer-in-chief was coined for him.
“Government after government have not been spared his caustic blackmail antics. Even the international Media have seen through his hubris and properly now refer to him as a global blackmailer.
“This is not journalism. It is not civic duty. It is pure digital terrorism in disguise.
“Worse still, Sowore’s pattern of reckless blackmail has become a subtle programming a dangerous re-education of Nigeria’s youth and young adults to hate their fatherland. By constantly painting Nigeria as a failed, irredeemable mess; by demonizing every attempt at leadership reform; by screaming down every other voice but his own, he is planting seeds of disdain and despair in the minds of young Nigerians. This is not activism. This is indoctrination against patriotism.
“We are therefore calling for the immediate investigation and prosecution of Omoyele Sowore for cyber libel, willful misinformation, incitement, and calculated character assassination. Enough is enough. Freedom of speech was never meant to be a weapon of social sabotage.”
The protesters urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), civil society watchdogs, and media regulators to publicly distance themselves from Sowore’s practices.
“Silence is complicity. To stay quiet while one man poisons the civic space with unchecked lies is to endorse impunity.
“There is nothing noble about a man who uses a megaphone not to amplify truth, but to wreck lives, reputations, and trust in our national identity. Sowore’s conduct is not activism it is sustained aggression against public decency, masked as patriotism.
“Let the truth be told: his voice is no longer prophetic—it is parasitic. And if the institutions of state do not act, history will remember that a nation stood by while one man led millions into cynical hatred, not of bad governance, but of their own homeland. We refuse that legacy. We demand accountability.”
