'I have almost 200 people reporting for me all over Nigeria'

He hit the nation’s consciousness, and headlines, with his fiery activism when he led the Students Union Government of the University of Lagos, Akoka, between 1992 and 1994. Since that baptism of fire, which peaked with the relentless national and global agitation for the revalidation of the June 12, 1993 presidential vote, won by the late Bashorun M. K. O Abiola, Omoyele Sowore never looked back. While most of his colleagues chose the glittering broad way of life, the Ondo State-born activist voted for the narrow way. He voted for a path strewn with thorns and boulders. He chose a Spartan life, a life of vigorous and sometimes aggressive action in pursuing happiness and wellness of the greatest number of the people.

For his efforts, he got arrested and detained in various jailhouses eight times. He almost died in Abacha’s gulag. But he never buckled. Rather, the torture and excruciating pains of incarceration toughened him so much they became like narcotics needed to spur him to higher and more demanding levels of activism. Finally, he left Nigeria for America, not for the much-vaunted American dream but to search for channels and opportunities that would further equip him in the struggle for a better Nigeria. In the process, he founded the popular social media network, Sahara Reporters, which has become the biggest and the most popular platform for citizens’ journalism for Nigerians wherever they may be on the globe. In its short span of existence, saharareporters.com has become what some people appropriately label the Wikileak of Africa.

I met Omoyele Sowore, 40, in New York, in the evening of September 5, 2010, where we both participated in a roundtable on the 2011 Nigerian general elections, alongside other speakers. After the event, organised by the Global Information Network, GIN, a non-profit organisation led by Ms. Lisa Vives, an American, Sowore, who moderated at the event, suggested we meet the next evening at a restaurant somewhere on Fulton Street, in Brooklyn, for a drink. That was where I sold the idea of an interview to him. He obliged.

2001 Essence Music Festival cruises on | NIGERIA ENTERTAINMENT ...

NEW ORLEANS – Complicated souls, troubled souls, old souls and sterling souls at the top of their game highlighted the main stage lineup Saturday during the 17th Essence Music Festival’s second night. El DeBarge, Chaka Khan, Jill Scott and Kanye West held down the key slots at the nation’s largest R&B festival while acts such as Morris Day and the Time, Stephanie Mills, Eric Benet and local chanteuse Charmaine Neville performed in the smaller “super lounges” in the interior of the Louisiana Super Dome. Among the highlights from the second of three nights

New opportunity: El DeBarge likely has put his body through some rough duty given his decades of performing and a longtime addiction to drugs, but his trademark thrilling and trilling falsetto never seems to let him down. It’s a wondrous instrument that soared and cascaded over the small crowd that had gathered for his nigh-opening set. Early on he alluded to his troubled past, which has included a stint in jail and a recent visit to rehab, thanking his fans “for this second chance for your love.” And songs from last year’s Second Chance album were prominently featured, including the title track and Close To You, the latter performed while sitting at the electric piano and then cross-legged on the stage. Hits from his early days as leader of the family group drew the loudest ovation, particularly I Like It from 1982 and set-closer Rhythm of the Night. Told them something good: R&B vet Chaka Khan wielded her formidable voice like an assault weapon, rattling the furthest reaches of the Super Dome with bolts of sonic energy. Instead of the sinewy funk rhythms that propelled her and her band Rufus to stardom in the 1970s, Khan now prefers bombastic ballads and empowerment anthems, which she delivered at full volume during her hour-long set. But then subtlety has seldom played a role in her personal story. Like DeBarge, she referenced her past troubles, introducing Angel from 1999 as “a song I didn’t remember writing because I was high.” She remembered how to deliver it, however, and she made it even more effective by teaming it with the redemption song Through the Fire. With the cleansing accomplished she launched into a show-closing quartet of his biggest hits: You Got the Love, Tell Me Something Good, Sweet Thing and, with guest Ledisi on hand, I’m Every Woman. Great Scott!: Jill Scott, riding high with the success of The Light of the Sun, her newly-crowned No. 1 album, provided much needed musical variety by weaving elements of jazz, Caribbean, poetry and hip-hop into her presentation. She’s a singer’s singer with a strong sense of rhythm and swing and the ability to scat, vamp or grow intensely serious as she navigates her way through often-complex material. She’s clearly proud of her achievements – she mentioned her No. 1 status three times early on and featured those songs in her dynamic set. Scott opened with current single Shame, brought out Anthony Hamilton to reprise his role on So In Love, and talked/sung her way though a long version of Boom. Scott said she was a “little rusty,” having not been onstage since last year’s tour with Maxwell. But she seemed fully at ease as she worked her way though earlier material such as The Way, Gimme and Whatever. Dark, twisted, fantastic: Kanye West borrowed heavily from fellow egomaniac Richard Wagner during his extraordinary and grandiose three-act closing concert and may have permanently expanded hip-hop’s boundaries to include opera and performance art. As a team of Martha Graham-like dancers scurried chaotically around the stage in front of a massive mural painted with figures from classical mythology, cathedral-like organ music blasted away, and West suddenly appeared in the center of the Super Dome atop a 20-foot-high platform, singing recent single Power. Usher had started his show from the same spot the night before and let a crane carry him above the crowd before depositing him onstage. But West, looking every bit the Messiah in his white jacket, let his mechanical platform descend in place. That allowed him to stride through his fandom, slapping hands on the way to the stage, where he launched into Jesus Walks and Can’t Tell Me Nothing. Following that stunning opening (and a brief anti-media rant), West poured out his vulnerable soul, his paranoia and passions, his conquests and defeats and vanity, for 90 non-stop minutes, visiting songs such as Love Lockdown, Hell of a Life, Hey Mama and Runaway. Minimal musical accompaniment (he used a DJ, keyboardists and occasionally a guitar), and judicial use of special effects such as smoke and lasers kept the focus on his voice, his panther-like moves and his message.

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