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APC explained how Sowore committed treason
The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has strongly condemned recent remarks made by Omoyele Sowore, the African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, labeling his comments against President Bola Tinubu as “treasonable felony.”
The party called on the federal government to take decisive action, urging Nigerians to disregard what it described as attempts by individuals “desiring to rub the integrity of the country in the mud,” rather than indulge “a serial merchant of discord and purveyor of half-truths.”
READ ALSO: Sowore responds to DSS demand over social media post
In a statement released in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, APC Rivers chairman Tony Okocha said it was unacceptable for anyone to deliberately spread falsehoods to tarnish reputations.
He stated: “attempting to incite Nigerians against the government with the crudity of style is treasonable felony,” stressing that “any action capable of undermining public trust and threatening Nigeria’s democracy, stemming from malice, is unacceptable.”
Sowore had recently described President Tinubu as a “criminal” and accused FCT Minister Nyesom Wike of using public funds to buy properties in Florida, United States.
Responding, Okocha maintained that criticism was healthy in a democracy but must not be grounded in falsehoods. “In every democracy, criticism is welcome, but what Nigerians must reject are deliberate lies, propaganda, and attempts to defame under the disguise of ‘activism’.”
He continued: “This is exactly what Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, has perfected over the years. Sowore has built his entire career on lies. His platform is notorious for publishing fabricated stories and half-truths, often used as tools for blackmail and extortion.”
According to Okocha, Sowore’s statements were “nothing more than the bitter rantings of a man rejected by Nigerians at the polls and drowning in political irrelevance,” questioning why “a sane citizen of a country can refer to the highest office holder as a ‘criminal’.”
Okocha recalled that the Police had previously charged Sowore with forgery and false publication over an allegedly fake police document. “This is not activism. It is outright criminality,” he said.
He also pointed out that Sowore “currently stands trial for cybercrime and defamation,” adding that the Department of State Services (DSS) had accused him of spreading false and provocative content on social media against Tinubu.
The APC chairman insisted that Sowore’s actions were intended to provoke unrest and destabilize the country. He also referenced the 2019 #RevolutionNow protests, describing them as “an attempted insurrection” rather than a democratic campaign. “No genuine democrat calls for the violent overthrow of a legitimate government,” he added.
On Sowore’s allegations against Tinubu and Wike, Okocha maintained they amounted to blackmail. “Provide cogent and verifiable facts leading to certain apodictic conclusions and we join to escalate it to high heavens,” he challenged.
Highlighting the government’s achievements, Okocha urged Nigerians to focus on progress being recorded under Tinubu’s leadership.
“President Tinubu is implementing his 10-point agenda under the theme ‘Renewed Hope Agenda.’ The economy is booming! Never in the history of Nigeria had over a trillion naira been shared by the three tiers of government. Naira now wields influence and stabilized against the hitherto doldrums before the Dollar and other hard currencies.
“Road infrastructure is verifiable. The trillion-naira Lagos/Calabar expressway, which pundits like Sowore dismissed as a well-nigh impossibility, is on the fast track. The blind can see it,” the party stated.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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