Repercussions of Scams Hunting You, Wike’s Aide Fires Back at Sowore

September 20, 2025

Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has taken a swipe at activist and publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, over his recent allegation that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Wike were plotting to assassinate him.

In a statement issued on Saturday, 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 being haunted by his own past misdeeds.

According to the minister’s spokesperson, Sowore should focus on his ongoing criminal trial rather than making “reckless statements” about the President and the FCT Minister.

“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 alleged.

He further accused the SaharaReporters publisher of misappropriating grants, including $1.3 million from the MacArthur Foundation between 2016 and 2019, which was meant for journalist training, as well as pocketing an #EndSARS grant intended for activist Oluwatosin Adeniji.

Olayinka also alleged that Sowore had used his media platform for blackmail and extortion, while leaving his staff in “abject poverty.”

“Therefore, if there is any threat to the life of Sowore, it must be from those he has scammed or blackmailed. He should leave President Tinubu and the FCT Minister out of the impending repercussions of his life of scams,” Olayinka said.

The spokesperson maintained that Sowore’s recent criticisms of Wike were nothing but “the last kick of a dying horse,” suggesting that the activist was deliberately positioning himself as a victim to continue his so-called scams.

On Sowore’s comments about alleged property ownership in the United States linked to Wike’s family, Olayinka queried:

“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 pattern of “running riot” would soon come to an end, insisting that “he can only run and hide under Cashtivist for a while, but he will get to the end of his scamming wit soon.”