Presidential aspirant Omoyele Sowore‘s campaign to raise $2million towards his ‘Take Back Nigeria Movement’suffered a setback on Wednesday.
GoFundMe has suspended his account.
And according to the Sahara Reporters publisher, he has no idea why that happened.
Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday night, Omoyele Sowore said he could not immediately say why the crowdfunding platform suspended his account, but said he would not be discouraged.
“I woke up this morning and got an e-mail saying saying they’ve suspended the campaign,” Mr. Sowore said.
Previously, he had been asked to provide further details about the purpose of the fundraiser by GoFundMe, which he did without hesitation.
He said the request was most likely due to the popularity that his campaign had garnered from those supporting his presidential ambition online.
But the campaign had also elicited resentment amongst his antagonists, especially for its apparent success within the early hours of registration, PremiumTimes reports.
“I think they started reporting us as soon as we opened it and they saw we made $1,000 in one hour,” Mr. Sowore said.
Omoyele Sowore lives in New York and from there, he runs Sahara Reporters.
Sowore announced his intention to run for president on Sunday, February 25, 2018 and set up his GoFundMe account on Tuesday, March 13, to raise $2 million for his campaign next year.
Bragging about how he will defeat President Buhari at the 2019 polls, Sowore said yes, Buhari’s followership is large – but it is a fact that the Nigerian electorate has become impatient with purposeless leadership.
My candidacy is generating significant interest across Nigeria, especially amongst the youth. The youth demographic is the largest single voting block. The coalition of progressives, youths and previously disenfranchised Nigerians that we are building will be a force to reckon with.
I have been in the business of building movements since my time as a student activist in the late 80s and early 90s. I am confident that we will be able to build a broad coalition of Nigerians committed to taking their country back and setting it firmly on a path to prosperity and unprecedented progress.
Sowore lampooned President Muhammadu Buhari as a misfit.
To actualise his ambition, Sowore vowed to pursue a relentless mobilisation of Nigerians to rally behind his message for a new Nigeria.
“It will be the largest mobilisation of Nigeria’s ignored and dispossessed people,” Mr. Sowore said.
“It will be the most direct engagement of a people in their own political future.”
PremiumTimes reports that GoFundMe did not immediately respond to their e-mail seeking comments about why they suspended Sowore’s account.
Meanwhile, despite his account shutdown, Sowore says there’s no going back as he strongly believes in his ability to see his presidential ambition through
