The Paradox of Omoyele Sowore: More Arrests Under Democracy Than Dictatorship
Nigerian activist Omoyele Sowore wins ₦30 million in damages against police for unlawful harassment, even as he faces nine ongoing court cases—a judicial victory that underscores the contradictions of democratic governance in Africa's most populous nation.
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The courtroom victory arrived on a Friday afternoon in Abuja, crisp and unequivocal. Justice Musa Kakaaki ruled that Nigeria's police force had violated constitutional provisions when they declared activist Omoyele Sowore wanted, awarding him ₦30 million in damages for what the court termed an abuse of power. Yet within hours of that judgment, Sowore himself offered a darker assessment of the state of Nigerian democracy: he has been arrested more times under civilian rule than he ever was under military dictatorship.
The collision of these two narratives—judicial vindication and systemic harassment—reveals the peculiar character of political dissent in contemporary Nigeria, where the machinery of democratic institutions can simultaneously protect and persecute those who challenge power.
A Courtroom Rebuke
Justice Kakaaki's ruling on February 20, 2026, represented a significant judicial pushback against police overreach. The court found that declaring Sowore wanted without due process constituted a fundamental violation of his constitutional rights. According to Channels Television, the judgment explicitly stated that the police action "violated constitutional provisions and amounted to an abuse of power."
The ₦30 million award—approximately $20,000 at current exchange rates—sends a clear message about the limits of state authority, even as it raises questions about enforcement. Nigerian courts have a history of delivering judgments that the executive branch ignores or delays implementing, particularly when they constrain security agencies. The test of this ruling will come not in its pronouncement but in whether the Nigeria Police Force actually pays the damages.
For Sowore, a former presidential candidate and publisher of the online news platform Sahara Reporters, the victory adds to a growing body of judicial decisions in his favour. Yet these legal wins have done little to stem the tide of state action against him. The pattern suggests a deliberate strategy: even when authorities lose in court, the process itself becomes the punishment, consuming time, resources, and energy that might otherwise fuel political organizing.
Democracy's Iron Grip
Speaking shortly after the court ruling, Sowore offered a stark comparison that cuts to the heart of Nigeria's democratic contradictions. He revealed that he currently faces approximately nine ongoing court cases filed by the Federal Government and police—a caseload that exceeds the total number of arrests he experienced during Nigeria's military era, which ended in 1999.
The statement carries particular weight given Sowore's history. He came of age politically during the brutal regime of General Sani Abacha, when activists routinely disappeared, journalists were murdered, and dissent was met with swift, extrajudicial violence. That democratic governance has proven more litigious, if not more oppressive, represents a troubling evolution in the technology of political control.
According to Channels Television, Sowore's current legal entanglements stem from various charges related to his activism and protests, including his involvement in the #RevolutionNow movement, which called for fundamental restructuring of Nigerian governance. The multiplication of cases suggests a strategy of legal attrition—burying dissidents not in detention cells but in courtrooms, where the slow grind of adjournments, bail hearings, and procedural delays can achieve what outright repression once did.
The irony is not lost on observers of Nigerian politics. Democracy was supposed to provide space for the very activism that Sowore represents—vocal criticism of government, mass mobilization, demands for accountability. Instead, democratic institutions have been weaponized to achieve authoritarian ends, using the language of law and order to justify what amounts to political persecution.
The Wider Pattern
Sowore's experience reflects a broader trend across African democracies, where the formal structures of constitutional governance coexist with informal practices of repression. Journalists, activists, and opposition politicians face not the crude violence of military rule but the sophisticated machinery of lawfare—strategic litigation designed to silence rather than seek justice.
The Nigerian case is particularly instructive because the country's judiciary retains significant independence, as evidenced by Justice Kakaaki's ruling. Courts regularly rule against government agencies, uphold citizens' rights, and constrain executive overreach. Yet this judicial independence operates within a system where security agencies can simply ignore unfavourable rulings or initiate new cases to replace old ones.
For Sowore, the ₦30 million judgment represents both vindication and futility. It confirms that his rights were violated, that the police exceeded their authority, that the constitution still means something. But it does not prevent the next arrest, the next declaration, the next set of charges. The system can acknowledge its own abuses while continuing to commit them.
Looking Forward
The dual reality of Sowore's situation—winning in court while losing in the streets—poses fundamental questions about the nature of Nigerian democracy. Can a system that produces both Justice Kakaaki's ruling and nine simultaneous prosecutions truly be called democratic? What does accountability mean when judicial victories have no deterrent effect on future violations?
These questions extend beyond one activist's struggle. They speak to the sustainability of democratic governance in contexts where institutions remain weak and political culture privileges power over principle. Nigeria's democracy is now 27 years old, long enough to have developed robust norms and practices. Instead, it has refined the tools of repression, making them more procedurally correct but no less effective at silencing dissent.
The ₦30 million judgment offers a measure of justice, but justice delayed through nine ongoing cases is justice fundamentally compromised. Until Nigerian authorities face real consequences for violating citizens' rights—consequences that change behaviour rather than simply compensate victims—activists like Sowore will continue to rack up courtroom victories that feel increasingly hollow. The paradox of being arrested more under democracy than dictatorship is not just Sowore's personal tragedy; it is a warning about the fragility of democratic gains across the continent.