 presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore){kind=link}
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has berated activist and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, over his description of President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.”
AFRIPOST reports that Sowore had, in an August 25 post on X, described Tinubu as a criminal, citing a video where the President, during a visit to Brazil, claimed there was no corruption in Nigeria.
“This criminal @officialpbat actually went to Brazil to state that there is no more corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!,” the tweet read.
The Department of State Services (DSS) subsequently filed criminal charges against Sowore, accusing him of making false statements in breach of Nigeria’s Cybercrimes and Terrorism Prevention laws.
The agency also urged social media giants X and Meta to delete the post, calling it a threat to national security.
Sowore rejected the DSS demand, refusing to delete the tweet.
He insisted the move was aimed at silencing dissent, describing the agency’s action as “despicable.”
Speaking on Thursday during the flag-off of the construction of Arterial Road N1 in Wuye, Abuja, Wike said Sowore was only fortunate that President Tinubu respected democratic values.
“This is a country where somebody on social media will say Mr President is a criminal; nothing will happen. You say all kinds of things you want to say, but nothing will happen.
“No matter how you see people criticise Trump, have you ever seen any American citizen on social media, or in the public, say our President is a criminal? Have you heard that?
“But here, anybody can wake up in the morning and abuse the President, and we are happy. You are lucky you have a President who believes in the rule of law. You are lucky. Continue to be lucky. There are those you will meet that you won’t be lucky again,” Wike said.
On the indefinite strike by the FCT chapter of the Association of Resident Doctors, Wike explained that N25 billion had been earmarked for health in the 2025 budget. He however stressed that payments and recruitment must follow due process.
“The SSS called me that people said they will demonstrate, that we are paying attention to roads, we are not paying attention to health. I called the Director, listened, demonstration is allowed everywhere. Nobody will blackmail me, nobody will stop me from doing what I think is right, and do it at the right time.
“The people who now say, look, they are being owed allowances, fine. We lost our Head of Service; we just appointed an acting Head of Service. And I said, okay, go and check, how much are they talking about?” he added.