Omoyele Sowore's career began in 1989, when he took part in student demonstrations protesting the conditions of an International Monetary Fund loan of $120 million for Nigeria -- which was to reduce the number of universities in the country from 28 to just 5. In 1992 at University of Lagos, Sowore led 2,000 students in protest against Nigeria's notorious kleptocracy. Police opened fire, killing seven. Sowore -- arrested, interrogated and beaten -- later found out his family too had been put under pressure. But he refused to back down against the struggle for decent education in his country, and was soon elected executive president of the university students union.

Since then, it hasn't exactly been plain sailing. He's been imprisoned eight times and tortured, but he remains committed. "We've had supposed democracy for 6 and a half years and people still can't eat," he says. "Who has benefited? There's no basic health care. We don't have running water. We don't have electricity, no basic education. Right now, Nigeria is a leaking basket. Shell and Chevron are among the biggest corporations in the world and they have benefited only a few people, the clique that runs the country. The Niger Delta area is polluted, occupied and heavily militarized. People get killed on behalf of the major oil companies’ everyday that cannot be right." Currently abroad being treated for the effects of torture, Sowore is adamant he'll return to Nigeria. "Change will not come to Nigeria on a platter of gold," he insists. "If you want justice, you have to fight for it."

Omoyele Sowore's interview of President Olusegun Obasanjo's son Dr. Gbenga Obasanjo sent shock waves through Nigeria in 2005. He was a former reporter for www.Elendureports.com

Sowore recently launched www.SaharaReporters.Com website. A website that claim - "We are citizens reporting the news and writing reports without barriers, oblivious of borders and regardless of frontiers"