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Apoi Teachers To Buhari, DSS: Release Sowore, He Pays Teachers Salaries, Gives Students Scholarships

September 27, 2019

A few years ago, he visited this school and observed that the school was in desperate needs of teachers because there was a real shortage of teachers here.

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Two teachers in Apoi, Ese Odo Local Council Area of Ondo State, have expressed worry over the continued detention of Omoyele Sowore, a pro-democracy activist.

They are, among other teachers, calling the President Muhammadu Buhari regime and the Department of State Services to immediately release him.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo of a federal high court sitting in Abuja granted Sowore bail but he is still being held by the Buhari regime through the DSS.

The teachers, employed and paid in their respective schools by Sowore, said the DSS' disobedience of the court order was illegal and unconstitutional.

One of them, Bamidele Ajasi, told SaharaReporters, "We are seriously worried about his detention because he is our helper by employing all of us in this government own school to assist the students.

"Many of us started teaching in this government-owned school as a result of the humanitarian gesture of Omoyele Sowore.

"A few years ago, he visited this school and observed that the school was in desperate needs of teachers because there was a real shortage of teachers here.

"He consulted the school's head and they had a talk and they gave him the nod to help them with more teachers in the school to teach the students."

Speaking further, he stated, "That gesture and opportunity is what you are all seeing today and that is why I am teaching here and many parents are happy.

"I can confirm three of us (teachers) are here at Community High School in Kiribo that Sowore employed directly and placed us on a monthly salary.

"There are other teachers in villages and communities far away from us in this Kiribo and Apoi land that he has helped and directly employed.

"Aside from this, he always gives the students scholarships in this Apoi land every year and has never failed for once."

The teacher pointed out that Sowore is not just an activist.

"Comrade Sowore is not only a human rights activist. He is also a philanthropist and already we are missing him. His arrest and detention are seriously affecting us.

"We are pleading with President Muhammadu Buhari to release Mr. Sowore for us because he is fighting for what is right and for the common good of oppressed Nigerians after all he is not fighting for any selfish interest," Ajasi stated.

Another Teacher, Mrs. Iyabo Ikuomola, said she was paid on a monthly basis by Sowore after she was employed in a government-owned school in the Agadagba area of the town.

"I was employed as an agriculture science teacher and it is Puluma (Sowore) that is responsible for my salary here because the government cannot afford to employ teachers.

"Even my two children in Ondo State University of Science and Technology in Okitipupa are benefiting from his scholarship programme here every year," Ikuomola said.