President Bola Tinubu’s government is attempting to discredit Omoyele Sowore, a human rights activist and former presidential candidate, and the Take-It-Back movement, which has been calling for the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest.
SaharaReporters has discovered that the government has reached out to bloggers, offering them N750,000 per post to publish damaging content about Sowore and the TIB movement.
A receipt obtained by SaharaReporters on Saturday confirms one such payment, exposing the government’s plot to undermine the protest.
“A video interview with News Central TV showing Sowore speaking from his New Jersey (US) base is being circulated across to bloggers and influencers from a Tinubu government’s agent in London to claim that he is calling for protests while not in Nigeria,” one of the bloggers offered money revealed to SaharaReporters.
“Someone actually paid me to post that Sowore’s video (video of his interview with News Central TV from the US). I know that they were paying for it to go viral. I charge N450,000 but the person even paid extra for it when I said no,” the source added.
Following a five-year period of government restrictions due to his #RevolutionNow campaign, Omoyele Sowore visited the US in March.
He returned to Nigeria in May to face a cybercrime charge instigated by PDP Senator Ned Nwoko.
While in Nigeria, Sowore contributed to the release of FIJ journalist Daniel Ojukwu, who was abducted by the police in Lagos over his report alleging that Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, diverted N147 million (US$106,154) in government funds for school construction into a restaurant’s bank account.
Despite his condition as an asthmatic patient, Daniel Ojukwu was detained at the FCID in Abuja for an extended period without access to his medication or doctor.
His release was secured after a protest at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, organized by a coalition of civil society groups and Sowore demanded his freedom.
Meanwhile, SaharaReporters on Friday reported that the United Bank for Africa (UBA) had frozen the account of the Take It Back Movement, a human rights organisation, ovet its involvement in the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests.
The Take It Back (TIB) Movement has stated that its bank account was frozen at the behest of the Department of State Services (DSS), also known as the State Security Service. In response, the organisation has threatened to take legal action against UBA if the account is not unfrozen within 24 hours, citing the action as 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 24hours, without which a legal action will be instituted against @UBAGroup,” it said in a post on its X handle on Friday.
In response to the development, Sowore has condemned the DSS for its lawless actions.
Meanwhile, SaharaReporters reported earlier on Friday that the organisers of the planned #DaysOfRage and #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests had formally requested the use of Eagle Square from August 1 to 10, 2024, for a peaceful protest, in a letter addressed to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
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