President Bola Tinubu’s administration is working to tarnish the reputation of Omoyele Sowore, a human rights activist and former presidential candidate, along with the Take-It-Back (TIB) movement, which is advocating for the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest.
SaharaReporters has revealed that the government has approached bloggers, offering them N750,000 per post to spread negative content about Sowore and the TIB movement. A receipt obtained on Saturday confirms one such payment, highlighting the government’s efforts to undermine the protest.
“A video interview with News Central TV, showing Sowore speaking from his New Jersey base in the US, is being distributed by a Tinubu government agent in London to bloggers and influencers, claiming that he is calling for protests while not in Nigeria,” one of the bloggers told SaharaReporters. “Someone paid me to post Sowore’s video. I usually charge N450,000, but they even paid extra when I initially refused,” the source added.
Omoyele Sowore visited the US in March after facing government restrictions for five years due to his #RevolutionNow campaign. He returned to Nigeria in May to confront a cybercrime charge brought by PDP Senator Ned Nwoko. While in Nigeria, Sowore played a role in securing the release of FIJ journalist Daniel Ojukwu, who was detained by police in Lagos after reporting that Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, diverted N147 million in government funds intended for school construction.
Despite being an asthmatic patient, Daniel Ojukwu was held at the FCID in Abuja without access to medication or a doctor. His release came after a protest at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, led by civil society groups and Sowore, who demanded his freedom.
On Friday, SaharaReporters also reported that the United Bank for Africa (UBA) had frozen the account of the TIB movement due to its involvement in the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests. The TIB movement claimed the freeze was ordered by the Department of State Services (DSS). The organization threatened legal action against UBA if the account was not unfrozen within 24 hours, calling the move unlawful.
“It has now come to our attention that @UBAGroup has frozen our account on the instructions of the DSS over our involvement in the forthcoming protest. We describe this action as lawless, and demand our account be unfrozen immediately within the next 24 hours, failing which we will take legal action against @UBAGroup,” the TIB movement stated on its X handle on Friday. Sowore condemned the DSS for its actions in response to the development.
SaharaReporters also noted that the organizers of the planned #DaysOfRage and #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests have formally requested the use of Eagle Square from August 1 to 10, 2024, for a peaceful protest, in a letter addressed to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike.
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If you notice, Saviors are always being looked at as the bad ones in most cases. Especially when they come like activists or revolutionaries. The people in power at that point always hate such people passionately because the truth is bitter. So it doesn’t surprise me when I see most elders and adults talking about Sho Warrior in a bad manner. They don’t see what. They want him to follow the usual procedures, but no. He’s against the entire government and I love it.
This sowore is just a loud mouthed noise maker. He doesn’t know anything about how to do things. He’s just making noise, he has been making noise right from time. He doesn’t know he’s meant to follow the rules and climb step by step. He wants to be another Jagger band. He’s a useless man.