Human rights activist Omoyele Sowore has accused officers of the Nigeria Police Force of firing tear gas at him and his supporters while they were travelling to Osogbo, Osun State, ahead of the governorship election.
NEWSNGR reports that Sowore made the allegation in a post shared on his 𝕏 account on Wednesday.
He claimed that the officers attacked his group despite what he described as a peaceful conversation with them before they continued their journey.
“Despite our having a respectful and peaceful conversation with them, they secretly fired tear gas at us as we continued on our journey,” Sowore wrote.
Sowore said the alleged action by the police did not stop them from reaching the state capital.
“But their intimidation failed. We pushed through, arrived in Oshogbo and triumphed,” he stated.
He criticised the conduct of the police, saying officers deployed for the election should protect citizens and the electoral process.
Meanwhile, Sowore has said the administration of President Bola Tinubu is still paying fuel subsidies in secret without the knowledge of Nigerians
NEWSNGR reports that Sowore, during an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Morning Show’ on Tuesday, claimed that subsidies were not only for petrol but also for the naira, which is at a certain rate to the dollar.
According to Sowore, the Federal Government is benefiting the rich through ‘waivers and customs’ rather than helping the poor.
Questioning the government for lying to Nigerians, Sowore said, “In the first place, they are still paying subsidies. They just changed the name of what they call it.
“They are subsidizing not only petrol because they don’t have enough. They’re also subsidizing naira. That’s one thing they will never tell you.
“The reason the naira is at a certain rate to $1 is because it’s been quietly and secretly subsidized. But the big question is: why lie about subsidies? Then we have to stop telling lies about subsidies.
“It’s not that subsidy is bad because there’s no country in the world that doesn’t subsidise their poor.
“In fact, the people that get the most subsidies in Nigeria are not the poor. It’s the rich; all the people who bring in foreign goods and services.
“Go and look at their waivers, their customs, you will know who is getting rich subsidies compared to the people who are getting 10 naira from each gallon of petrol that was taken away from them.
“You saw what happened. Immediately subsidies were removed, look at where our economy is. The naira also went down.”
