By Our Reporter
This was revealed after an extensive investigation and fact-finding mission by civil society group, the Coalition for One Nigeria (CON).
Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) who garnered 33,953 votes at the last polls, fewer than the incumbent in some local governments, championed an attempt to force a regime change in the guise of RevolutionNow protests.
Following his arrest and subsequent failed plot to destabilize the county on Monday, facts have emerged about how the Sahara Reporters founder was sponsored by some international and local collaborators to topple the government - similar to the Arab Spring.
As revealed in a statement signed by National President, Johnson Adelowo Olusola, on Tuesday, the original plot was to disburse this kickbacks among his lieutenants across the country but selfishly Sowore held back, thus wrecking the entire exercise.
The CON, therefore, called the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to commence investigation into the source of the funds.
The group, however, assured Nigerians that the country's sovereignty is guaranteed under President Muhammadu Buhari.
Read full statement below:
A lot is being said across Nigeria about the failed protests that were intended to cripple cities across the country. The protests were alternately branded #RevolutionNow or #DaysofRage. International collaborators of the protesters had tried hard to present it to Nigerians as the equivalent of Arab Spring in Nigeria, an illusion of popular revolt or citizen’s uprising.
On the contrary, the protests were being paid for, both by the opposition in Nigeria and foreign interests that are interested in destabilizing Nigeria, and there is nothing spontaneous about them. The organizers of the protests had tried their best to incite public anger but were disappointed that the populace see hope in the direction the current elected leadership of Nigeria is taking the country.
This failure to incite the population made the organizers, notably the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore to demand and receive additional funds from these international sponsors in the hope of swaying citizen with money.
It is against this background that the Coalition for One Nigeria wishes to bring to the notice of Nigerians the grand plot by these enemies of Nigeria to cause a crisis of phenomenal proportion in the country using proxies that appear to have garnered some level of public clout in the society. Nigerians should note that the moment the arrowhead of the attempted coup was arrested, other collaborators in the insidious project to disrupt Nigeria were immediately activated to begin castigating the government.
The Coalition for One Nigeria have it on competent authority that vast sums of monies were released to the organizers of RevolutionNow, led by Sowore, to stage the nationwide protest in a bid to topple the democratically elected government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
From all the information gathered, the convener of the RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore received the sum of $500,000,000 (Five Hundred Million Dollars) to mobilize street protests against the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari across the country. The objective was to be able to pay daily allowances to paid protesters such that they could abandon their day jobs and take to the streets to create a semblance of dissent. The meeting at which the amount was agreed had the sponsors telling Sowore to study the execution of the Arab Spring and the 2014 Ukrainian Orange Revolution during which protesters were able to stay weeks on the streets without running shot of money.
Accordingly, the sum of $100 million was budgeted for protest in Lagos, and the disbursement would have been such that would see hired units of protesters receiving as much as one thousand dollars daily.
It was also discovered that the same $100 million was budgeted for Abuja the Federal Capital Territory. The protest slated for Abuja is meant to be intense since Abuja is the seat of power and each cell of protesters would share as much as $3000 daily among its members.
The sum of $5 million was also budgeted for other states in Nigeria to see to the success of the protest nationwide. The sum of $50 million was also budgeted to be paid to some high profile lawyers and leaders of thought to agitate on behalf of the RevolutionNow movement in the event of any clash with relevant security agencies.
The protests however flopped and failed to attract the expected turnout after the disbursed funds were diverted by the convener. The Coalition for One Nigeria has it on competent authority that Omoyele Sowore short-changed some of the individuals that brokered the deal and they vowed to expose him and his sponsors should he fail to give them their share of the money. This story first came to light following the arrest of Omoyele Sowore, which some of his estranged associates believed he contrived to evade accounting for the funds he has privatized and refused to distribute as agreed.
Without prejudice to whatever crimes the Department of State Services has arrested Sowore for, the Coalition for One Nigeria hereby calls on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to commence investigations into the source of the funds deployed to sponsor the RevolutionNow movement. This should be with a view to tracking the connection between foreign agents and the protest movement.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission must as a matter of urgency, investigate and make public its findings of those that are complicit in the whole deal for justice to take its cause. We urge other security agencies to assess how this development relate to their areas of core mandate and to the necessary steps to identify and try anyone found to have plotted to sabotage Nigeria.
The Coalition for One Nigeria will hold responsible any of the security agencies that allows the sovereignty of Nigeria to be violated without acting to bring the perpetrators to book, this will include those that allow such nefarious protests to hold despite the glaring fact that it is sponsored against the unity of Nigeria. The likes of Omoyele Sowore must not be allowed to toy with the destinies of over 200 million Nigerians due to the monies he received from external sources to lead the ill-fated protest.
We cannot but end this address by calling on all Nigerians to join hands with the Coalition for One Nigeria to collaborate with us on efforts to unite the citizenry across ethnic and religious lines. Our demonstration of unity today has shown to the world that Nigeria is better United than divided and no external force can break our resolve.
Thank you and God bless you all.
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