IGBOZURUOKE MEDIA

In February 2011, President Bola Tinubu, who was a chieftain of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) at the time, called then-President Goodluck Jonathan a “drunkard and sinking fisherman”.

Jonathan served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to Muhammadu Buhari.

While speaking to journalists, Tinubu described the President as a drunk fisherman whose boat was about to capsize.

“I think the president is wrong because that is an insult to our parents. It is a speech from a drunk sailor fisherman whose boat is about to capsize,” the Nigerian Voice quoted Tinubu as saying.

Also in February 2019, Tinubu, while speaking at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, during the All Progressives Congress presidential campaign rally, asked Nigerians to dump former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the dustbin.

“We’re watching CNN; Trump and China, Trump and Russia. Interference in the largest African democracy is what we are saying. G-20, in year 2003, asked Umaru Shehu Yar’Adua of blessed memory, ‘what are you going to do with the election in Nigeria?’ He said: ‘The election that brought me as president of this country is flawed and I will reform it’. Is that not correct? Who conducted that election? Obasanjo is the greatest election rigger in this country. He’s an expired meat. Dump him in the dustbin. Forget Obasanjo,” he said.

SaharaReporters earlier on Sunday reported that the Department of State Services (DSS) had written to X (formerly Twitter), demanding the immediate takedown of a tweet posted by activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore, saying it disparaged Tinubu and posed a threat to national security.

The Nigerian secret police alleged that Sowore’s post of August 26, 2025, in which he described the President as “a criminal” who lied about corruption in Nigeria, constituted hate speech, cybercrime, and a threat to national security.

The DSS subsequently asked X to delete the post and deactivate the activist’s account.

Meanwhile, Sowore has written to X, countering the demand by the secret police for the deletion of one of his posts and the deactivation of his account.

The former presidential candidate’s legal representative, Tope Temokun Chambers, in a letter dated September 7, 2025, addressed to the Legal and Policy Team of X in San Francisco, California, described the DSS’s demand as “unlawful, unconstitutional, and without legal foundation.”

“Under Section 39(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), every person is entitled to freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference,” the letter stated.

“African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which is domesticated into Nigerian law (Cap A9, LFN 2004), equally guarantees the right to free expression.”

The legal team also referenced judicial precedents such as Director, SSS v. Agbakoba (1999) and Arthur Nwankwo v. The State (1985), where courts warned against government overreach in suppressing free speech. Sahara Reporters