How Osinbajo tackled DSS over Sowore saga

Fresh details have emerged on how former Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, clashed with the Department of State Services (DSS) over its refusal to release Omoyele Sowore despite a subsisting court order.

The details are tucked inside a new book by veteran journalist and rights activist, Richard Akinnola, titled I Write What I Like, which documents political flashpoints between 2017 and 2025.

According to Akinnola, Osinbajo was deeply unsettled by the DSS’ open defiance of a subsisting court order directing Sowore’s release in 2019. The book narrates how the then Vice President, himself a professor of law and former Attorney-General of Lagos State, felt it was unthinkable to sit in office while the country’s secret service mocked judicial authority.

“He made it clear to the DSS that he had a professional career and reputation to protect after leaving office, and that flagrant disregard for the court would not only stain the administration but also his name,” Akinnola writes.

While Sowore remained behind bars in public view, Osinbajo was said to have engaged the agency through backchannel pressure, insisting that the rule of law could not be trampled under his watch. His push reportedly contributed to Sowore’s eventual release, after months of stonewalling by the DSS.

Akinnola’s book also documents similar interventions in other high-profile cases, including the prolonged detention of Shiite leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, where Osinbajo again registered his unease with security agencies over disobedience to court orders.

The 198-page work, which compiles Akinnola’s essays over eight years, will be unveiled on September 13 at the Airport Hotel, Lagos, during a public summit marking his 67th birthday. The event will be chaired by the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams.