Human rights activist and #RevolutionNow convener, Omoyele Sowore, has declared that Nigeria is yet to experience true independence, accusing the country’s leaders of simply replacing colonial rulers with local oppressors.
Sowore made the remarks on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, during a peaceful protest organised by the #RevolutionNow movement in Abuja as the nation marked its 65th Independence Day anniversary.
The former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) argued that, six and a half decades after Britain handed over power in 1960, Nigerians still live under systems that deny them freedom, dignity, and justice.
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“Nigeria’s independence is what we are pursuing. The one they are celebrating is the one of the colonial masters. Our own independence has not arrived yet. That is why annually we protest on Independence Day,” Sowore said.
He stressed that the same oppression once carried out by foreign rulers is now being perpetuated by Nigerian elites who exploit and suppress the masses.
> “We are still looking for independence. We want to be free from neocolonial masters and slave masters in our country. We are still living in apartheid,” he added.
Sowore highlighted the plight of pensioners, restrictions on free speech, and political repression as evidence that the country remains trapped in colonial-style governance.
> “Any country where people work and they cannot get pension is not an independent country. Any country where people speak and they get clamped down into prison or detention is not independent. That is what the colonial masters used to do to us. What they now call cybercrime was once sedition law – if you speak against authorities, you go to jail. So, we are still looking for independence,” he argued.
Nigeria gained independence from Britain on October 1, 1960, and became a republic three years later. But its post-independence history has been scarred by military coups, civil war, endemic corruption, and recurring economic crises.
Sowore, who founded the #RevolutionNow movement in 2019 to demand systemic change, good governance, and human rights, has remained a fierce critic of successive administrations. His activism has often led to confrontations with state authorities, including multiple arrests and detentions.