Nigerian politician, human rights activist, and founder of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, has accused the President Bola Tinubu-led administration of witch-hunting protesters who took part in the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest.
In a statement on X on Friday, Sowore alleged that the Tinubu-led government has begun “blackballing” and arresting unsuspecting Nigerians who took part in expressing their grievances against the hardship in the country.
The African Action Congress party candidate in the 2023 presidential election, alleged that Tinubu, in collaboration with the ruling All Progressive Party, APC, is trying protesters, accusing them of attempting to force “regime change.”
“Since the end of the magically successful #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria revolt, which lasted ten solid days despite all odds, oddities, and obstacles thrown its way, some elements of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party of Nigeria have opportunistically thrown caution to the wind and proclaimed that the protests were organised for “regime change,” Sowore stated.
“Although it is up to the Nigerian people, like other climes around the world, to determine when to discard any set of people in power if they continue to collaborate aggressively and coercively to hurt their essence and existence, this falsehood must be placed squeaky clearly where it belongs; the regime of Bola Tinubu only wanted to blackball Nigerians into a state of dereliction by using the nationwide success of the revolt against hunger orchestrated by his government policies to permanently and strategically shut down the civic space in Nigeria,” he added.
Sowore, who condemned the Counter-Subversion Bill introduced by the National Assembly, opined that the bill was aimed “at erasing and degrading Nigerians’ rights to assemble, express, and organise freely against bad governance.”
Continuing, he said, “Therefore, it was not a mistake that as soon as the protests were barely over, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudden Abbas, spuriously introduced a bill known as the “Counter-Subversion Bill” specifically aimed at erasing and degrading Nigerians’ rights to assemble, express, and organise freely against bad governance.
“As expected, that bill died a natural death a few hours after Nigerians knew of it. A video in circulation of an interview granted by Kaduna State Governor tells of the sorry state of affairs of our country.
“In an attempt to revise history, he claimed that as a former activist, he organised several protests, but that they were not aimed at toppling the government.
“He curiously also mentioned Senator Shehu Sanni, but these are lies aimed at obfuscating his real intentions.
“The truth is that almost all Nigerian regimes resort to using “treason, subversion, and now cybercrime” as tools for suppressing dissent as soon as the public rises to challenge their policies.
“It has become the standard charade of blackmail. Even Senator Shehu Sani was framed by the military and tried and sentenced for coup plotting and thrown into jail for an offence he never committed.”
He alleged that the Tinubu administration is geared towards arresting and imprisoning “regime opponents.”
Sowore’s statement adds, “the Tinubu regime is now toeing the same path, arresting and trying poor innocent tailors over charges they’re plotting regime change. It is a new low and will fail woefully like others before it.
“Let’s be clear about the intention of the Tinubu regime; they want to begin an unprecedented hunting down of regime opponents using a familiar but worn-out technique accusing every Tom, Dick, and Harry of regime change offences.
“They have already commenced with journalists, activists, artisans, and even the labour movement (@NLCHeadquarters).
“Several persons are in detention; offices and homes were arbitrarily raided around Nigeria as we speak in Kano, Kaduna, Abuja, Borno, and several other places. But like others before it, these efforts have failed even before they commenced.”
