The African Action Congress presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has recounted how he was assaulted by about 20 suspected thugs in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.\n<\/p>\n
Sowore spoke on Friday during an appearance on Channels Television\u2019s Politics Today, where he described how the attackers descended on him while he was at a restaurant meeting some of his supporters.\n<\/p>\n
He said the assailants were armed with sticks and bottles and threatened to kill him if he returned to the state.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThey beat me like a criminal. They came from nowhere, about 20 of them, armed with sticks and bottles. They said they will kill me if I come to Ekiti again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The AAC chieftain stated that the incident was captured by CCTV cameras but claimed that the security agents had taken possession of the footage to suppress evidence of the attack.<\/p>\n
He added that he sustained injuries to his face and other parts of his body and was subsequently taken to a hospital for treatment.\n<\/p>\n
Despite the assault, the activist vowed not to abandon his advocacy for justice and democracy, insisting that the incident would not silence him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not afraid. They can beat me, they can arrest me, but they cannot stop me from speaking the truth,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
The Ekiti State Police Command also confirmed that Sowore sustained injuries during an altercation with some individuals at a restaurant in the state.\n<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the interview witnessed a heated exchange between Sowore and the programme\u2019s presenter, Seun Okinbaloye, after the latter asked whether the activist had provoked the people who allegedly attacked him.\n<\/p>\n
The question angered Sowore, who accused the presenter of engaging in victim-blaming.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t ask me such a condescending question. I was attacked, I was beaten. You are asking me if I provoked them? That is victim blaming,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
Okinbaloye attempted to calm the AAC candidate, explaining that he was only seeking to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.\n<\/p>\n
However, Sowore maintained that the question was insensitive, questioning the approach of mainstream media organisations to reporting the attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came here to tell you that I was attacked and the police seized the CCTV to cover it up, and you are asking me if I provoked thugs? Is that journalism?\u201d he asked.\n<\/p>\n
The exchange lasted for about two minutes and subsequently attracted reactions on social media, with Nigerians expressing differing opinions over the confrontation.\n <\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
The African Action Congress presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has recounted how he was assaulted by about 20 suspected thugs in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital. Sowore spoke on Friday during… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}