A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Joe Igbokwe has urged 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) Omoyele Sowore to retract his comment describing President Bola Tinubu as a criminal.
In a post on facebook on Monday, Mr Igbokwe said he was shocked that Sowore, whom he had known for years, would describe a sitting President in such terms.
“However I was stunned into disbelief and in total shock when he called a seating President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, PBAT a criminal,” he wrote.
Igbokwe said he had advised Sowore to withdraw the statement and apologise to Tinubu and Nigerians who voted for him, but that Sowore had yet to do so.
“I advised him to withdraw the shameful scurrilous drivels and apologize to the President. Up till now he has not found the need to apologize to the President and Nigerians who elected him as president,” he added.
He went on to describe Tinubu’s career, listing his roles in public service and governance.
“PBAT is not his mate. The President is an international Chartered Accountant, an international scholar in the best tradition, former Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, former Governor of Nigeria’s economic nerve center called Lagos State for 8 yrs, and now the President of Nigeria, the biggest, the most populated country in Africa and the most endowed.”
According to Igbokwe, Tinubu’s impact in the country spans three decades.
“Nobody living or dead in Nigeria has touched lives across Nigeria the way PBAT has done in the past 30 years. Go and verify. Go and ask questions. Go and do due diligence,” he said.
He also criticised Sowore’s political activism, describing it as unproductive.
“Apart from being the President of UNILAG Student Union I have not recorded any significant progress since he left Akoka apart from Aluta Continua business and life on the streets. He moves from police station to another, from one court to another, from one detention camp to another and nothing more,” Igbokwe wrote.
The APC chieftain urged Sowore to rethink his approach and stop what he described as street protests that no longer make sense to Nigerians.
“When you call a President we all elected a criminal it is at once telling us that 200 millions are criminals. This is unacceptable. It is unbelievable,” he said.
Igbokwe’s comments come as Sowore faces pressure from the Department of State Services (DSS), which initially issued a 24-hour ultimatum before extending it to one week for him to withdraw the post.
The DSS said the activist’s remarks could incite public disturbance and disunity.
However, Sowore has rejected the directive, saying he will not delete the post.
