He was discharged after a team of doctors battled to save his life. However, the activist still walks with some difficulty.
Human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore has vowed not to stop protesting against the bad government of President Muhammadu Buhari even if he is left with one leg and in a wheelchair.
Sowore disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja, after he was discharged from the hospital where he had been receiving treatment as a result of injuries he sustained from a gunshot on Monday.
The former presidential candidate was shot in the leg at close range by a policewoman, CSP Altine Daniel during a peaceful protest against insecurity and poverty in the country.
He was discharged after a team of doctors battled to save his life. However, the activist still walks with some difficulty.
The activist said he remained resolute in his fight to see a better Nigeria despite the desperation and intimidation posed by the Buhari regime to silence and eliminate him at all cost.
"If there is a protest today and somebody can put me in a wheelchair, I will go. Let them come and shoot me there but one thing I know for sure is that they won't get away with this.
"The regime is desperate and being desperate, they will do a lot of crazy things to discourage people like me and those that may follow our lead from challenging the incompetence, wickedness, cruelty and inhumane way the regime conducts its affairs," he said. [story_link align="left"]94682[/story_link]
He, therefore, called on Nigerians to come out en masse on June 12 to protest against the senseless killings, insecurity, poverty, corruption and bad governance which have become the trademark of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government.
According to him, he was at Unity Fountain where he was shot to attend a peaceful protest against growing insecurity in the country.
The protest was organised by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN).
The activist said the police, upon sighting him and his group, hurriedly locked the gate of the fountain area, preventing them from entering.
The activist who narrated how he was shot said he was the target and the aim was to terminate his life for challenging and speaking against the systemic injustice in the country.
He said, "When we got to Unity Fountain, we engaged the police that it is our right to protest and the police need not to shut the gate against us but they refused. [story_link align="left"]94708[/story_link]
"At this point, I asked the Barrister beside me to reach the commissioner of police and he called him and put him on the speaker phone and we told him that it is despicable of the police to shut the gate and that it is our constitutional right to protest and he responded that he had no hand in it. He promised to talk to the people there to open the gate.
"When I looked back, I discovered that about five trucks of policemen had arrived at the scene and we started singing solidarity songs and this was being live-streamed on my page at this point and from nowhere, this woman whom I later learnt was CSP in the police approached me with a gun, which is referred to as Federal Riot Gun. It looks like a double-barrelled gun. It is used in shooting projectiles or teargas. It is not meant to be shot at a person at such a close range.
"She looked at me and said 'Sowore! You are the one here and she shot me.' I started noticing blood was running in my jean trousers. I discovered that I couldn't walk anymore and I fell to the ground. Upon falling to the ground, she instructed her men to shoot more teargas in my direction apparently to prevent anybody from saving me."
The human rights activist thanked Nigerians at home and abroad for their support and prayers for him while he was in the hospital.
Civil society groups, lawyers and activists have condemned the action of police and called for the arrest and prosecution of the policewoman and her team for attempted murder.