CITIZENS COMPASS—The spokesperson for the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, has urged former President candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, to delete a social media post criticising his principal.
The human rights activist disclosed this on Tuesday, saying Onanuga privately messaged him to delete the post.
Sowore, the publisher of a news website, SaharaReporters, in a recent post on his X Handle and Facebook page had condemned Tinubu’s comment in Brazil that his administration had fought corruption to a stand still.
Tinubu made the statement during a state-to-state visit to Brazil.
The federal government had regarded the post as offensive, calling on Sowore to pull it down.
The Department for State Services (DSS) had petitioned Elon Musk and Meta (owners of X and Facebook) over the post requesting it to pull it down.
In the interest of peace, X had written Sowore to draw his attention to the DSS letter.
Meanwhile, Sowore insisted that he would not pull down the post.
On Tuesday, the human rights activist on his social media handles disclosed that Onanuga has privately reached out to him.
Sowore in the social media post titled, “Triggered by My Statement, Presidential Spokesperson @BayoOnanuga Writes Me to Delete My Posts on Tinubu said, “Presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, wrote directly to me on WhatsApp, asking that I delete my tweet and Facebook post in which I referred to President Bola Tinubu as a criminal based on Tinubu’s recent speech in Brazil, where he claimed that there is “no more corruption in Nigeria.”
“Onanuga argued that my interpretation was a “misfire,” claiming Tinubu was only referring to the process of sourcing foreign exchange and not corruption as a whole. He even cited examples from business figures like Samad Rabiu to defend his point, and then advised me to delete my post.
“Here is his WhatsApp message to me: Good afternoon. Your August 26 tweet that the DSS is complaining about is anchored on a total misinterpretation of what the President said in Brazil. He said there was no more corruption regarding sourcing foreign exchange and that you do not need to know CBN Governor Cardoso to get forex. Prominent business people like Samad Rabiu have all given testimony about this. That was what he meant. Nothing more. You truly misfired. I will advise that you delete the contentious post. Good afternoon.
“And here is my response:
Good afternoon. I am surprised that you consider it appropriate to dictate to citizens like me how to interpret what is already in the public domain, especially when it comes to videos and matters that touch on the State of the Nation.
“What is more troubling is that in Nigeria today, anyone who dares to criticise the President is instantly subjected to harassment by the DSS, political thugs, and every coercive instrument the state can muster. I once thought perhaps you were unaware of such abuse, but it is now clear you are complicit.
“In this regard, it is you who has misfired. Your request reflects not only poor judgment but also the mindset of the principal you represent.
“Nota Bene:* I have known Bayo Onanuga for many decades.
Back when I was a student leader in Lagos, Tempo, The News, and PM News were our go-to platforms. Later, before founding SaharaReporters, I even moonlighted as a Special Correspondent for The News, working alongside Kunle Ajibade and @BabafemiOjudu to produce some of the hottest stories of that era.
“This clarification is necessary because it explains why Mr. Onanuga may have chosen to write me a private message over my recent post. Out of respect, I sought his permission to make our exchange public, but he did not reply.”
Sowore’s post has drawn reactions from social media users:
King of Salem said, “I think I blame Bayo Onanuga for descending too low to even consider having a private chat on the issue with a low class and a rabble rouser like you. How dare he threw the children’s bread to a dog like you. Do you even know what mutual respect is? You are a disgrace.”
Oke Belgium said, “so in nigeria now, the president goes on television and infront of the world to say and make statements, his media then comes out to explain what he means 😀😃 we could have all withdrawn the moment he started licking mic but instead we renewed our hopes. how did we go from buhari to tinubu in 16years 😭😭😭
Abubakar Sadiq said, “Omoyele Sowore might eventually back down given how things are unfolding, but I hope he doesn’t. I want to see how far the government is willing to go in handling this situation.”
ENGR OJ said, “Instead of the presidency to come out and make a statement and correct the flaws of the president about the endemic corruption situation of the country and apologize to the citizens for the president misfires… They want to directly or indirectly silent citizens.
“We don’t compromise….”
