tpapi:
As bitter as d truth might sound, d fact is Sowore does not stand d slightest chance, this is not Europe or America

oluoni:
And that's why your red mud barren land will continue to remain inconsequential cos ure a mental slave.

ivandragon:
There was heated exchange between Nigeria’s communication minister, Adebayo Shittu, and a presidential aspirant, Omoyele Sowore, on a public affairs radio programme in Ibadan on Saturday.




Mr Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, was in Ibadan in continuation of his campaign efforts. He arrived Lagos from the UK earlier in the week.




The programme, monitored by PREMIUM TIMES’ correspondent, held on Fresh FM, Ibadan, owned by foremost broadcaster and musician, Yinka Ayefele.
The interview had barely kicked off when the debate became heated.




“Minister, it is great to see you. This is the minister of an outgoing regime; the Buhari regime will be kicked off power by 2019,” Mr Sowore said shortly after the programme began.



He had barely concluded his introductory statement when Mr Shittu fired back, saying the Sahara Reporters’ publisher is a dreamer.



“By your wish or by God’s wish? You are just dreaming. You are a day dreamer” he said in response to Mr Sowore’s claim to which the presidential hopeful replied saying, “By the wish of the people of Nigeria, Sir. It is not a dream. It is the realisation you’d wake up to on February 15.”




Mr Shittu retorted: “Sowore, what’s your electoral worth? Whether in your Ife (sic), home or any part of this country.” Mr Sowore replied: “My electoral worth brought you to power in 2015. Nobody even heard about many of you in 2014.”




The minister thereafter said the Sahara Reporters publisher didn’t know about him because he was inconsequential in politics. “You are inconsequential…” he said.
In defence, Mr Sowore said he was consequential because Mr Shittu and others came to power by the efforts of young Nigerians like him.




He said, “I am consequential because you came to power on my back, on our back… on the back of young people who invested a lot of hope.”




In response, the minister described the publisher as a mere noise-maker. “What did you invest? Did you invest more than me, No? I will not sit here and allow someone make noise…You are just a noisemaker. You are just a noisemaker.”




The Sahara Reporters publisher thereafter warned that the minster’s conduct was typical of the same way handlers of former President Goodluck Jonathan treated Nigerians before they were defeated at the polls in 2015.




“This was the same way Jonathan people were sounding in 2014… you are gonna be shocked in 2019,” Mr Sowore said. On accusations by the minister that he was a dreamer and that his statements were politically motivated, he said: “The Nigeria of the future is for dreamers like me.”




Apparently angered by Mr. Sowore’s statements, Mr. Shittu said: “You think the presidency is for people like you? Go and start from being a councillor. I have been a member of the House of Assembly, I was a commissioner twice, I was already a lawyer… you wouldn’t know, you were too small.



How old are you? How old are you? This is not a platform for minions like you to come… you think the presidency is something you can just buy in a market place? You are a giant in university politics (and) by the grace of God you will be put to shame.”




The anchor of the programme, Isaac Brown, momentarily brought the situation under control but the coordinated conversation didn’t last long before it turned into a shouting match yet again.




When asked to explain the rationale for vying for the presidency, the 47-year-old publisher said he had been around for thirty years fighting for the betterment of the country. He also said he had built a media platform whose reportage help bring the present government into power.
“That’s rubbish!” Mr Shittu fired back. “I have been in politics since you were born. For forty years, I have been in politics and I was already a lawyer before I joined politics forty years ago. You can’t be here and talk rubbish.




“This is rubbish! You want to become president? You are a day dreamer. Who will make you president? You will be president of your Ife… not Nigeria. Go and be president in Ife. You think it is cheap as that? We will see…”




On the #NotTooYoungToRun initiative, Mr Sowore said it was not enough for the youth to simply contest on the basis of their being young.




“You have to take power because we are responsible and should be responsible for it. That’s why we are having a heated argument here. I have been doing this for thirty years; by next year, it will be thirty years. We are the ones that fought for the democracy they are enjoying today,” he said.




Few weeks back, an ex-aide to Mr Shittu had in an open letter accused the minister of gross abuse of power, accumulation of ill-gotten wealth and refusal to pay his aides’ allowances. The long letter, which was circulated widely online, was also published by Sahara Reporters. The minister would later refute the allegations and challenge the aide to publish evidences of his alleged ill-gotten wealth.




In the course of the programme on Saturday, Mr Shittu accused the publisher of publishing falsehood against him without contacting him to verify the fact, an accusation to which Mr. Sowore replied by saying the minister barely picked his calls and reply messages.




“We do (contact affected parties in a story for reaction) but they don’t react until they get into trouble,” he said. “I have your (Mr. Shittu) telephone number… I called you. I had sent you text messages even before now but because you think I am inconsequential, you ignored me.”



Mr Shittu, who said Mr Sowore needs ‘mentoring’, thereafter threatened to sue the Sahara Reporters publisher over the said publication.



“Minister, you know what Fela said: take me to court and I will open book for you,” Mr Sowore said amidst laughter.



https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/264323-you-are-inconsequentialgo-contest-for-councillor-nigerian-minister-tells-sowore.html

rosascheer70:
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I can disclose to you a little about the lives of Filipino road kids and one again we have stories of surrender, brutality, beatings and sexual mishandle. how to help street children
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Adesolomon2014:


Alright. So Jona still stands as ur saviour abi.
Be it buhari or jona, both are ntin to write home about.

onatisi:

this isnt about jonathan or pdp but about the man and the stupidity of Nigerians who voted . read through all my write ups on gej and you will see that i have always said it that gej wasnt and isnt the best presidential material , but if gej was the best then and yet buhari doesn't even measure up to half of gej intelligence , how come Nigerians thought he was the best to rule them . if Nigerians aren't severely and thoroughly punished now they will still repeat the same mistakes again in 2019 by relying on some power drunk old politicians who have looted and raped the country dry to dictate to them who to vote for after collecting 1000 naira and 2 kongo of rice .
Until Nigerians start asking the right questions they will never get the right answers . ppl are afraid to ask politicians difficult questions about their integrity , Nigerians were ok with the silence of buhari on his certificate and financial background and rather cooked up stories to make him look like a saint

Limitednow:
Sowore has indicting reports against the government and he intends to report it during campaign period.

Just watch.

donbachi:
APC should not underestimate the power of a pawn,because it can checkmate a king.....if you are a chess player you should know that word.

trillville:
Nigerians youths must realize that this election is about a generation change. Out with the old and in with the youth. Some of us like(d) GEJ and others still like buhari. Our personal feelings should not destroy the future of Nigeria.

Buhari's generation fought the civil war to keep Nigeria one. We say thank you.

Goodluck's generation fought to bring in democracy. We say another thank you.

None of these older generation people have what it takes to handle today's challenges. Today we face a future of fewer high skilled jobs and mass extreme poverty. All they offer us is band-aid solutions like sure-p, youwin and npower.

Sowore may not solve all our problems but at least we are certain he understands them. In the western world,
cleaners, security guards, hair stylists and barbers all earn a living wage. Wages that can rent conducive shelter and enable them to purchase vehicles. Sowore knows that solving our unemployment isn't necessarily about creating new jobs but about raising the living standard of people with jobs that already exist. This simple truth is also shared by ANRP's Tope Fasau.

Think about the returnees from Libya. One even said he wanted to go back there because he could make good money there. Think about the thousands of Africans that die while trying to cross the Mediterranean to get to Europe. All these people want living wages.

Nigeria has one of the widest gaps between the rich and the poor. The older generation believe that anyone without a degree should be poverty stricken. This is where the difference in generational thinking lies, especially with this generation of diaspora Nigerians. This generation needs to close that gap.

tpapi:
As bitter as d truth might sound, d fact is Sowore does not stand d slightest chance, this is not Europe or America

trillville:


Have you read the article you just posted? The accuser provided no form of evidence whatsoever. In fact, the author of the article wrote that the accuser "implied" that Sowore asked for a bribe. Are you making judgements off people's innuendos. Please vote for a youth. Any youth and not people like Turakin Adamawa.

Acidosis:


I won't vote for a youth if all he's got is "being a youth." I want to vote credibility, intelligence, not youth.

Alikote:
But the true voters don't even read Sahara reporter...they don't have android phone....or data just radio they deliver 10 m vote ever 4 years ..

GuidoVanRossum:



Oh! those radios actually depend on Sahara reporters and the rest for news these days.

Alikote:
really BBC,France,german and ap depend on Sahara reporter pls don't say this in public oooih

trillville:


There are so many candidates for you to choose from. There is mughalu, there is Tope Fasau, there is Fela Durotoye and there is Omoyele Sowore. You can even support Donald Duke. Just read about the various candidates and make your choice.

einsteine:


All these youths would all split votes and at the end, Buhari gets block votes from the usual places and gbam, he is back again.

GuidoVanRossum:



The real voters don't listen to BBC, and they are neither French or Germans. They listen to their various local fm stations. Especially translated into their language. You should know this about the real voters. Thank you

trillville:


Most of them will drop out of the race before the election to support the most popular of them. They will end up endorsing the most popular candidate. This is only logical path this election will take.

Alikote:
....when I say BBC and co I mean BBC Hausa service with 40 m listeners no mushroom station

SKhanmi:
Even though i don't support the minister's attitude ,He's right in some ways. Go back and check the background of most in political positions now. They have been hanging around the corridors of powers for a very very long time, Everything is decided by the kingmakers in the background. Although it's not impossible for someone like sowore to win the election, It's quite rare, Especially in a country like Nigeria. Anyway, who says you can't dream

ajl:


Majority of voters are youths, who by their nature and phase in life are largely dreamers. Serious dreamers are doers and they make things happen. The Minister has create the impression that it is worthless being a dreamer in Nigeria. Albeit a serious one. Every thing and products we use today were developed by "dreamers".