Tinubu’s aide blows hot, says corps member who criticised president deserves to die by hanging
Temitope Ajayi, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media and Publicity to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has called for the death penalty to be served on Ushie ‘Raye’ Uguamaye, a corps member who referred to his principal as a terrible president.
Raye had posted a video on TikTok under the handle @talktoraye, where she tearfully expressed frustration over the rising cost of goods in Nigeria.
She described Tinubu as a “terrible” President and accused the government of neglecting the economic hardship faced by citizens.
“If a lot of Nigerians come out and start speaking about what we are going through, maybe changes will be made in the government,” she said in the TikTok video.
“I don’t know if there is any other president that is as terrible as you, but you are such a terrible president.”
The presidential aide was not pleased with what Ms Uguamaye said and called for her head because she is a corps member.
“If she is not a corper, she can say whatever she fancies like people do per second. Citizens can abuse a living day out of their President or any public official. It is normal,” Mr Ajayi stated on Facebook on Monday. “But a corper violated her oath and code of conduct here. That is capital punishment under NYSC.”
He added, “You can’t abuse the country you are serving as a corper under any guise and the symbol of sovereign authority, which is the president. She should be punished to the fullest extent, not just warned.”
When reactions began trailing his comments, Ajayi attempted to backtrack via another post.
He claimed he was not calling for her head but for the maximum punishment of expulsion from the service corps.
Ajayi wrote, “I made comments under a post where I advertently wrote that what the lady corper did should attract capital punishment under NYSC which means her indiscretion should attract highest punishment under the NYSC scheme.”
Here he uses ‘advertently’, a term that qualifies an action as being done heedfully, attentively or intentionally.
Meanwhile, Inibehe Effiong, a human rights lawyer, has come to the defence of the corps member.
“Criticising the president or the government is not an offence under the NYSC Act (See Section 13). It is also not an offence under the NYSC Bye-Laws (See Section 4 of the Revised Bye-Laws, 2011),” stated the lawyer.
Effiong added, “I have watched all the videos of this lady that are being debated. There is nothing slightly partisan in her comments.”
The rights lawyer noted that Uguamaye “merely expressed her justified frustrations with the state of affairs in the country, particularly the impact of the scourging” inflation on her and other Nigerians.
“That is within her constitutional right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended),” Effiong explained.
Amnesty International, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi have condemned attempts to silence critics of the incumbent president, including intimidation of Uguamaye.
