REVOCATION OF SOWORE’S BAIL: ANOTHER PHASE IN THE ESCALATING CRACKDOWN ON OPPOSITION VOICES

TAKE IT BACK MOVEMENT

PRESS STATEMENT

REVOCATION OF SOWORE’S BAIL: ANOTHER PHASE IN THE ESCALATING CRACKDOWN ON OPPOSITION VOICES

The Take It Back Movement strongly condemns the revocation of the bail granted to Omoyele Sowore, human rights activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), describing it as yet another troubling development in the ongoing campaign of intimidation and political persecution directed at opposition voices in Nigeria.

We view this latest action not as an isolated judicial event but as part of a broader pattern of state-backed efforts to silence dissent, criminalize opposition politics, and weaken democratic resistance to the failures of the current administration.

For months, Nigerians have watched as critics of government policies, activists, journalists, and opposition figures increasingly become targets of harassment and legal persecution. The circumstances surrounding the treatment of Omoyele Sowore fit squarely within this disturbing pattern.

In our view, the real issue extends beyond the courtroom. What is unfolding is a political project aimed at frustrating the emergence of a genuine alternative to the failed order that has condemned millions of Nigerians to poverty, insecurity, unemployment, and hopelessness.

The Tinubu regime appears increasingly uncomfortable with the growing popularity of Sowore and the AAC among Nigerians searching for a credible political alternative. As more citizens become disillusioned with the ruling establishment and begin to rally around a platform committed to justice, accountability, and the liberation of Nigeria from elite misrule, the machinery of intimidation has become more aggressive. But history teaches a simple lesson: repression cannot defeat an idea whose time has come.

No bail revocation, arrest order, intimidation campaign, or politically motivated persecution can stop Nigerians from organizing themselves for change. No amount of harassment can extinguish the growing demand for a country that works for ordinary people rather than a privileged political class.

The Take It Back Movement therefore calls on all democratic forces, civil society organisations, students, workers, youth groups, community leaders, and all defenders of freedom to reject this shrinking of democratic space and resist every attempt to turn the justice system into a weapon against political opposition.

And we wish to make it abundantly clear that those behind these actions will not succeed in intimidating the Nigerian people into silence. The struggle for justice, accountability, and genuine liberation will continue with even greater determination.

If the intention is to discourage opposition politics, the result will be the exact opposite. Every act of repression only strengthens the resolve of those committed to building a new Nigeria.

The Nigerian people are watching. They understand what is at stake. And they will not surrender their democratic future to fear.

The struggle continues.

Signed:
Juwon Sanyaolu,
National Coordinator,
Take It Back Movement.