Sowore labels Obasanjo as ‘Baba Gbajue’ following his Sallah visit to Tinubu’s wife

Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 elections has described former president Olusegun Obasanjo as ‘Baba Gbajue’ following the ex-president’s Sallah visit to the First Lady, Remi Tinubu.

In a post on Monday, June 17, 2024, the special assistant on media to the First Lady, Busola Kukoyi, said Obasanjo visited to felicitate with the wife of the president in Lagos on the Sallah celebration.

“Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the First Lady of the Federal of Nigeria Senator Oluremi Tinubu after receiving the Former President who came felicitating on the Sallah Celebration on Monday 17th June,” Kukoyi wrote.

This is coming three weeks after Obasanjo criticised Tinubu’s administration for the ‘wrong’ implementation of fuel subsidy removal and the floating of the naira.

Reacting to the ex-president’s visit to the First Lady in a post via his official X handle, Sowore aimed a dig at Obasanjo’s former political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and also labelled the ex-president as 'Baba Gbajue.'

“Baba Gbajue visits his real clients! People Deceiving People since 1960!” he tweeted.

‘Gbajue’, a Yoruba slang recently popularised by Professor Wole Soyinka, is a metaphor for fraudulent people.

Using the word in the same context Soyinka used it to describe the Labour Party and its claim of winning the 2023 election, Sowore’s post subtly implied that Obasanjo is a political fraud.

This is not the first time the activist would tackle the ex-president, who ruled the country twice as a military and civilian leader.

During the build-up to the 2023 general election, Sowore berated Obasanjo, saying his administration was fraught with barbarity.

He said even though he needed support to become Nigeria’s president, he won’t accept Obasanjo’s endorsement because according to him, the ex-president has nothing to show for his 12 years in power.

Sowore said, “I need plenty of endorsements, but I won’t be able to take that of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who had over 12 years as president but has nothing but barbarism to show for it.

“What will I tell the people of Odi and Zaki Biam? That the rogue that massacred them is now my mentor?”

The publisher of Sahara Reporters news platform also expressed his disdain for the ex-president in September 2022, when he described him as the father who ruined Nigeria twice.

Sowore said this following Peter Obi's visit to the former president during the build-up to the 2023 general election.