A new book by veteran journalist Richard Akinnola has revealed how former Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, clashed with the Department of State Services (DSS) over the agency’s refusal to obey a court order for the release of activist Omoyele Sowore during the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The book, titled “I Write What I Like,” documents that in 2019, at the height of Sowore’s detention, Osinbajo made repeated efforts to compel the DSS to comply with judicial directives.
Akinnola wrote:
“I was aware of the previous efforts made by VP Osinbajo to get the DSS obey the court order, which almost led to a face-off with the security agency. Osinbajo said he had a job to go back to after leaving office and could not be around when such an order was being flouted.”
According to the author, the DSS resisted Osinbajo’s intervention, warning him that “there could not be two presidents” — a veiled reference to his decisive action in 2018 when, as acting president, he sacked the then DG of DSS, Lawal Daura.
Despite the resistance, Akinnola noted that Osinbajo pressed further on the day of his visit, and Sowore was eventually released.
The book also recounts how Akinnola sometimes used backchannel advocacy to secure bail for detainees, including Shiite leader Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.
The 198-page work, structured into twenty chapters, is a compilation of the author’s Facebook posts between 2017 and 2025.
It is scheduled for public presentation on Saturday, September 13, at the Airport Hotel, Lagos, coinciding with Akinnola’s 67th birthday summit, themed “A Handshake Across the Niger: The Yoruba/Igbo Détente.” The event will be chaired by Iba Gani Adams, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland.
