A new book has revealed how former Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, clashed with the Department of State Services (DSS) during the Muhammadu Buhari administration over the agency’s refusal to obey a court order for the release of Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore.
The book, ‘I Write What I Like’, authored by veteran journalist Richard Akinnola, detailed the 2019 incident when Sowore was being detained despite repeated court orders for his release.
According to Akinnola, Osinbajo had privately expressed displeasure at the DSS, stressing that he could not be in office while such blatant disregard for judicial orders persisted.
Akinnola wrote, “Osinbajo said he had a job to go back to after leaving office and he could not be around when such an order was being flouted. The DSS had told him that there could not be two presidents, a veiled reference to how Osinbajo, as acting president in 2018, sacked Lawal Daura as DG of DSS.”
Akinnola recalled how he personally met with the then Vice President to appeal for further intervention, leading to Sowore’s eventual release.
“Nonetheless, I still decided to see him, so that he could put more pressure on his government, which he did that day and Sowore was released the same day I came to see him,” the author stated.
The book also touched on other back-channel efforts by Akinnola to secure justice in controversial cases.
“Beyond the issue of advocacy, I sometimes explored back channels to get things done, like in the case of the then detained Shi’ite leader, El-Zakzaky, who was eventually granted bail through this method,” he revealed.
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