The All Progressives Congress, APC, Rivers state has called on the federal government to immediately declare a tough stance on the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, Omoyele Sowere over his recent vituperations on President Bola Tinubu and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.

APC also wants Nigerians to stand up against people it describes as “rascal and nitwit” desiring to rub the integrity of the country in the mud, “rather than give heed to or yield to the antics of a serial merchant of discord and purveyor of half-truths”.

In a statement he issued in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, the Rivers State chairman of the APC, Tony Okocha, said that spreading false news with clear intention to overreach or defame the other’s character or integrity is ”unacceptable”.

Okocha said that “attempting to incite Nigerians against the government with the crudity of style, is treasonable felony, adding that “any action which is capable of undermining public trust and potent enough to threaten Nigeria’s democracy, stemming from malice, is unacceptable”.

Recall that recently, Sowere referred to President Tinubu as a “criminal”, even as he alleged that Wike used public funds to buy expensive houses in Florida, United States.

Reacting to the allegations, Okocha said: “In every democracy, criticism is welcome, but what Nigerians must reject are deliberate lies, propaganda, and attempts to defame under the disguise of ‘activism’.

“This is exactly what Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters has perfected over the years. Sowore has built his entire career on lies. His Sahara Reporters platform is notorious for publishing fabricated stories and half-truths, often used as tools for blackmail and extortion.

“These baseless allegations are nothing more than the bitter rantings of a man rejected by Nigerians at the polls and drowning in political irrelevance”, wondering what sane citizen of a country can refer to the highest office holder, as a “Criminal”?

Okocha recalled that only recently, the Nigerian Police charged Sowere with forgery and false publication for circulating “a fake” police signal designed to undermine national security. “This is not activism. It is outright criminality”.

He went on to say that “Sowore currently stands for a trial for cybercrime and defamation. The DSS filed multiple charges against him for transmitting false, inciting and malicious messages against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on social media.

“His deliberate lies are aimed at inciting public unrest, sowing distrust and discord in institutions with the poisonous intention to destabilise Nigeria. A man standing trial for such grave offences ought to rein in himself and consider himself as lacking in moral imperative to insult credible leaders who are working extremely hard to build the nation.

“Nigerians remember clearly the #RevolutionNow protests led by Sowore in 2019. He openly called for “days of rage” to topple a democratically elected government. That reckless campaign was nothing but an attempted insurrection, unwittingly packaged as activism.

“No genuine democrat calls for the violent overthrow of a legitimate government. Sowore’s actions then, and his continued incitement now prove that he is more of an anarchist and a psychopath than a patriot”.

The APC state chairman said that this style of blackmail aimed at the jugulars of Mr. President and Minister Wike is dead on arrival, saying that Nigerians are interested in concrete evidence and facts, “not wiled conjectures with the clear intentions to blackmail.

“Provide cogent and verifiable facts leading to certain apodictic conclusions and we join to escalate it to high heavens,” he said.

Okocha however reeled out President Tinubu and Minister Wike’s achievements in just a little more than two years, appealing that Nigerians should celebrate the President’s gigantic stride other than paying attention to blackmails.

“President Tinubu is implementing his 10~points agenda under the theme ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ The economy is booming! Never in the history of Nigeria had over a trillion naira 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.”