By Abiola Olawale
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has cautioned human rights activist and the 2023 Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, over his recent comments about President Bola Tinubu.
This is as Wike declared that Sowore is only “lucky” that Tinubu has respect for the rule of law.
Speaking during the flag off of the construction of Arterial Road N1 in Wuye on Thursday, Wike said: “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 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.”
The New Diplomat reports that this comes after Sowore, in a tweet on August 25, described the President as a criminal, citing a video where Tinubu, during his visit to Brazil, said 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.
Following the tweet, the Department of State Services (DSS) filed criminal charges against Sowore for defamation, accusing him of allegedly using “false” statements that breach Nigeria’s Cybercrimes and Terrorism Prevention laws.
They also requested that social media platforms X and Meta should delete the tweet, calling it a threat to national security and public order.
Sowore, however, refused to delete the tweet, claiming the DSS was allegedly trying to silence dissent, and describing the DSS actions as “despicable.”
