Wike’s aide hits back at Sowore amid assassination allegation

Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, Mr. Lere Olayinka, has fired back at activist and Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, dismissing his claim that President Bola Tinubu and Wike were plotting to assassinate him.

In a strongly worded statement issued on Saturday, Olayinka accused Sowore of fabricating stories to sustain what he described as a “life of scams,” stressing that the activist was “only afraid of his scamming shadow.”

The presidential aide insisted that instead of making unsubstantiated claims, Sowore should face his ongoing criminal trial and be ready to produce evidence in court, including the judgment in which he alleged that President Tinubu was convicted.

“Someone like Sowore, who collected over $3 million in 2019 to sell the governorship ticket of the African Action Congress (AAC) in Rivers State and was suspended by the party for corruption, must have a lot of victims of his scams to contend with,” Olayinka said.

He further alleged that Sowore had a track record of questionable dealings, including:

The 2020 #EndSARS controversy: Olayinka referenced allegations by activist Oluwatosin Adeniji that Sowore pocketed a grant he applied for on her behalf.

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Foreign donor funds: Between 2016 and 2019, he allegedly received $1.3 million from the MacArthur Foundation and other millions from donors for journalist training programs that never materialized.

Extortion claims: Olayinka also accused him of using his media platform, Sahara Reporters, to blackmail individuals for money, while keeping his staff in “abject poverty.”

According to Olayinka, if there were any threats to Sowore’s life, they would likely come from individuals he had allegedly defrauded or blackmailed, not from the president or the FCT minister.

On Sowore’s recent allegations linking Wike to property purchases in the United States, Olayinka retorted:

“Did the Minister deny that his wife has properties in the U.S.? Is it an offense for anyone to own properties abroad through inheritance or purchase? And is that Sowore’s defense for publishing outright falsehood and calling the President a criminal?”

The FCT minister’s spokesperson argued that Sowore’s accusations were “the last kicks of a dying horse,” adding that the activist was resorting to mind games to portray himself as a victim in anticipation of the “consequences of the charges against him.”

Olayinka concluded that Sowore’s “Cashtivism” was nearing its end, insisting that “he can only run and hide under his scams for so long.”