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By Uche Nnadozie
Let us set the record straight. Whatever petty quarrel Omoyele Sowore and Rotimi Ola may have with Lere Olayinka, it is their business. But to drag the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Ogba into their false narratives is an insult to those of us (including Lere) who actually lived that struggle.
Sowore was never part of the NIJ crisis or resolution. He was never in the trenches with us. He did not suffer through the endless boycotts, the sleepless nights, the harassment, the suspensions, or the psychological torture we endured for more than four years while fighting for the accreditation of our programmes. We gave up our youth, our peace of mind, even our futures. Some of our colleagues never recovered.
What did Sowore contribute? A cameo. In 1998/1999, as UNILAG SUG president, he happened upon NIJ students protesting while he was at WAEC in Ogba on unrelated business. NIJ and WAEC share a fence. He saw noise, jumped in for a few minutes, then moved on. That was it. An hour at most. That is the full extent of his involvement. And we thank him after all, it was not his business and he was not the only non-NIJite to address the protesting students at the time.
Yet here he is in 2025, trying to rewrite history as though he carried our fight on his back. It is shameless. Even the PM News report he cites—conveniently—did not bother to mention his appearance in NIJ on the same day because his role was negligible. A footnote, nothing more. If Sowore had done anything significant, history would have recorded it.
This is who Sowore is: a political opportunist, a serial chancer. He hovers around struggles he did not start, inserts himself for a moment, then later returns to claim glory he does not deserve. He did it with NIJ. He has done it elsewhere, eg EndSARS. It is his pattern—jump into protests not out of conviction, but out of calculation.
Let it be known: NIJ’s accreditation struggle was not Sowore’s story to tell. It is ours, paid for with sweat, blood, wasted years, and broken lives. He has no right to appropriate it. If anything, his attempt to do so exposes him not as a freedom fighter but as a man desperate to inflate his relevance by hijacking the legacy of others.
Sowore should leave NIJ out of his theatrics. He did not fight this battle, and he cannot wear the crown of those who did. History is not his to steal.
