By Njoroge Achebe, YeyeNews.com, October 7, 2021
Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Saharareporters.com missed out by just two votes being named as the third winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. Sources closed to the Norwegian Nobel Committee that awarded the Peace Prize on Friday told YeyeNews.com that there was an intense debate by a fraction of the committee members who wanted Omoyele Sowore to join Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia as winners. In the end, the committee disagreed and dropped the Ondo State-born Nigerian citizens journalist who turned into a politician and activist for RevolutionNow.
According to the Nobel Peace committee, the two winners were chosen “for their courageous fight for freedom of expression” in their countries.” Chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen of the Norwegian Nobel Committee told a news conference that, “at the same time, they are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions,” she added. “Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda.”
The 2021 Peace Prize was a nod to free speech. “It has come under threat across the world,” said Nigerian journalist Ifeanyi Eze. “It would have been perfect if the committee had added Sowore’s name on the list or even the Ghanaian investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas.”
The reasons for dropping Sowore’s name at the tail end of the deliberations amongst the committee members were three. The first was Sowore’s decision to join politics in 2018 when he formed the African Action Congress party and, in 2019, ran for president of Nigeria.
According to our sources, running for office was not in itself a disqualifying factor for members of the committee. He was disqualified because he continued to be the publisher of Saharareporters.com while at the same time running for political office, which two members of the committee considered a conflict of interest.
The second reason given was his instance of being the presidential candidate of the party as well as the chairman of the party. YeyeNews.com was told that the committee considered it another conflict of interest and a bad example for political leaders across Africa. “We expected a lot more from him, being that he was involved in holding politicians accountable for years,” one of the committee members said during the debate.
The third reason given for Sowore’s failure to make it on the list was Saharareporters’ tendency to publish stories without given the subject of the story an opportunity to respond. “What should have been the icing on a cake ends up becoming a dent on a Lamborghini,” a committee member said. “They do these beautiful investigative work and just drop the ball at the end.”
The two winners of the Peace Prize, Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, will share the prize money of $1.145 million. “Sowore would have received one-third of that money,” said Ifeanyi Eze. “And with Naira at free fall, that would have been, who knows, a billion or more in Naira.”
