Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed allegations by SaharaReporters Publisher, Omoyele Sowore, that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Wike were plotting to assassinate him.
Olayinka described Sowore’s claim as “one of the mind games he plays to sustain his life of scams,” insisting that the activist was only “afraid of his scamming shadow.”
In a statement on Saturday, Olayinka said Sowore should instead concentrate on his ongoing criminal trial and be prepared to provide evidence in court.
According to him:
“Sowore should rather face his criminal trial and be ready to provide the court judgment in which President Tinubu was convicted to defend his reckless statement.”
Olayinka alleged that Sowore had a long history of financial impropriety and deceit, pointing to past controversies surrounding his political and activist engagements.
“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,” he stated.
He also cited other allegations, including those from the #EndSARS period:
“In 2020, this same Sowore was accused by Oluwatosin Adeniji of pocketing an #EndSARS grant, which he applied for on her behalf without her knowledge. Between 2016 and 2019, Sowore collected $1.3 million from MacArthur Foundation and has been collecting millions of dollars from other foreign donors for the purpose of training journalists in Nigeria, which he never did.”
Olayinka further accused the SaharaReporters publisher of exploiting his online platform for personal gain.
“He is also known for using his online medium, SaharaReporters, to blackmail and extort money from people while keeping his staff in abject poverty. Therefore, if there is any threat to the life of Sowore, it must be from those he had scammed or blackmailed. He should leave President Tinubu and the FCT Minister out of the impending repercussions of his life of scams.”
The FCT Minister’s aide suggested that Sowore’s recent criticisms of Wike were merely attempts to deflect attention from his legal troubles.
“All the noise he has been making about Wike in the last 48 hours is just the last kick of a dying horse. He knows the consequences and gravity of the charges against him. He is therefore playing his usual mind game so as to present himself as a victim in order to sustain his scams,” he said.
On Sowore’s comments about Wike’s family’s properties abroad, Olayinka responded:
“He is running riot about purchase of properties in United States. Did the Minister deny that his wife has properties in the US? Is it an offense for anyone to own properties in the US through inheritance or purchase? And is that Sowore’s defense for publishing outright falsehood and calling the President a criminal?”
Olayinka concluded that Sowore’s activities amounted to a fraudulent lifestyle that would soon catch up with him.
“Like I have maintained, Sowore can only run and hide under Cashtivist for a while, he will get to the end of his scamming wit soon.”
