Respected writer and activist, Mr. Ikhide Ikheloa who opposed former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration on the issue of fuel subsidy has expressed regret over his decisions working with the opposition, at the time, in staging anti-GEJ protests in the United States.
Writing on his Facebook page, Ikheloa, admitted he was misled by the Bola Tinubu political machinery which sponsored the protests which were tagged #OccupyNigeria when then President Jonathan announced the removal of petrol subsidy on January 1, 2012. This regret comes as President Muhammadu Buhari removed fuel subsidy on Wednesday, May 11, 2016 and increased the petrol pump price by 60% – from N86.50 to N145.
“January 2012. That dude in front texting is Pa Ikhide leading the masses to the World Bank in downtown Washington DC where we oyokomated and jimgbilated in protest against the removal of fuel subsidy. Omoyele Sowore is there somewhere,” Pa Ikhide, as he is known online, wrote on his Facebook page as he shared a 2012 photo of him protesting in Washington DC.
Ikheloa also revealed that a journalist, Tolu Ogunlesi, was the brain behind convincing him to join the politically sponsored movement. Ogunlesi is now special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, apparently, he has been rewarded for his work for the opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC) against the Jonathan administration.
In a series of posts (below), he called out the APC and its national leader, Bola Tinubu for hypocrisy and placing partisan interest above national interest and said that the 2012 Occupy Nigeria protests were driven by hate for Jonathan, rather than national good. Ikheloa, who sits on the education board of the government of the state of Maryland in the United States, also mentioned Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters, a citizen reporting website as one of the brains behind the ‘APC’-led subsidy protest organisation of 2012.