Video: Sowore collapses after close-range police gas at June 12 protest
Abdullateef Fowewe
Omoyele Sowore, the African Action Congress (AAC) 2027 presidential candidate and activist, has collapsed after what he says was exposure to a “strange gas” deployed at close range by Nigeria Police Force operatives during a June 12 protest march, videos posted by Sowore show.
Sowore described the episode in a social media post, writing, “Today, operatives of the Nigeria Police Force deployed a strange gas at the protest ground, at close range which entered my lungs and left me struggling to breathe before I eventually collapsed.”
He accused the administration of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of using repression to silence dissent, saying the incident “shows the increasingly dangerous tactics being used to suppress dissent and intimidate citizens exercising their constitutional rights.”
The protest—carrying banners that demanded an end to bad governance, safer schools and decisive action against child kidnappings—was disrupted after police action, according to footage shared by Sowore.
In his post he framed the attack as “unprovoked,” directly blaming the Tinubu regime for escalating tactics against opposition figures.
Sowore vowed the episode would not deter his movement, writing that the government’s “objective is to silence, destroy, and crush all opposition through fear and force,” and adding, “We shall never succumb to any of his worn out tactics. We will keep going until we achieve liberation. #RevolutionNOW.”
