Family Trying To Free Bergen Journalist From Nigerian Prison

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — The family of a Bergen County journalist and others are trying to get a Haworth journalist freed from prison in Nigeria.

Omoyele 'Yele' Sowore was taken from his hotel room Aug. 3 by Nigeria's State Security Service for allegedly organizing a pro-democracy protest there, said Dana Stott, a family spokesperson. He is the founder of Sahara Reporters, a New York-based organization that covers corruption, political misconduct, and human rights in his native country.

Sowore's wife, Opeyemi said she is worried about her husband's safety.

"Our family, friends, and our community are hoping and praying for his immediate release and his safe return home," she said.

Opeyemi last spoke to her husband in August, immediately after he was imprisoned. The SSS has prevented her from contacting him further. He is slated to go on trial in November, said Stott.

Sowore has lived in the United States for 20 years. He is one of several journalists jailed in Nigeria for dissent under President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.

Sowore's family and dozens of supports attended a rally in support of his release in Haworth Monday night. They held 87 bright yellow ribbons, one for each day Sowore has been imprisoned, and tied them to a tree.

Haworth Councilwoman Heather Wasser helped organize the rally.

"We're trying to bring awareness to what's happened. We've been in touch with the U.S. State Department, but it hasn't been that easy to make them focus on this," Wasser said. "He's worked his whole life to improve the conditions in Nigeria and goes back and forth. This time, they grabbed him."

The African Renaissance Organization sent a petition to the State Department asking the government to pressure Buhari to release Sowore, according to a report on democracynow.org.

A spokesperson with the United Nations Human Rights Council could not be immediately reached for comment. Dozens of human rights organizations have appealed to the United Nations on Sowore's behalf.

Reporters Without Borders ranks Nigeria 120th in the world, out of 180 countries, on the 2019 World Press Freedom Index. The organization reports that journalists in Nigeria are "often threatened, subjected to physical violence or denied access to information by government officials, police, sometimes the public itself."

To help spread awareness of the situation, Sowore's family is asking the public to use the hashtag #FreeSoworeNow on social media posts.

Opeyemi said the matter has been "very hard" on the couple's two children.

"They miss their father dearly," she said.

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