“I FELT GUILT because I left behind children or adults whose only “crime” is being poor or voiceless while the powerful walk free.”
Rights activist and publisher Omoyele Sowore took to social media shortly after his release from detention to express a deep sense of guilt and lament the systemic injustice faced by poor and voiceless Nigerians caught in the country’s penal system.
In a poignant statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) on October 27, Sowore described the painful realisation of leaving innocent people behind in prison while being released himself.
“There’s nothing more painful than seeing innocent people left behind in prison. When I was being released today, I FELT GUILT because I left behind children or adults whose only “crime” is being poor or voiceless while the powerful walk free.”
Sowore’s message served as a scathing critique of Nigeria’s justice system, arguing that it is fundamentally broken and corrupted. He underscored the devastating human cost of wrongful imprisonment, which he says “steals time, hope, and dignity.”
The activist concluded his post by rallying supporters with the hashtag #RevolutionNow, asserting that the fight for justice must be relentlessly pursued to reform the brutal and unfair reality of Nigeria’s courts and prisons.
