Sowore gets rousing welcome after detention at Lagos airport on arrival from US

Social activist and politician, Omoyele Sowore, received a rousing welcome from supporters at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos following his release from detention by officials of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).

Sowore, who flew into the country from the US where he had been spending time with his family, was led into the NIS detention facility at the Lagos airport on Sunday, September 15, 2024, over the claim that he was on the watchlist of the Department of State Service (DSS).

The politician, who contested the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the African Action Congress (AAC), was said to have been detained over his participation in the #EndBandGovernance protest that rocked the nation recently.

He disclosed this in a post on his X, stating that the NIS officials have also confiscated his international passport.

"I had just arrived in Nigeria from the USA to the MMIA in Lagos; upon reaching Nigerian Immigration, my passport was seized, and they told me they had orders to detain me. This is not unexpected because I have always known that It is part of the broader clampdown by the fascist @officialAbat regime on dissent and their fear of the upcoming #FearlessINOctober revolt," he posted on X.

No sooner the news got around than his supporters started converging at the Lagos airport. The crowd, which sporadically grew by the minutes staged a protest for the immediate and unconditional release of the politician.

About an hour later, Sowore announced on his X that he had been released after a brief detention and his passport had also been returned by the NIS.

Upon his release, the Sahara Reporters publisher walked into the hands of his waiting supporters at the arrival wing of the airport.

Singing and chanting his name, the ecstatic crowd mobbed Sowore as they jostled to take photo selfies with him.