The 2019 ambition of Omoyele Sowore suffered setback on Wednesday after GoFundMe suspended his bid to raise $2 million towards his ‘Take Back Nigeria Movement’.

The Sahara Reporters publisher told PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday night that 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 also elicited resentment amongst his antagonists, especially for its apparent success within the early hours of registration.

“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.

The closure could prove demoralising for the anti-corruption campaigner, coming just as his campaign was getting off to a great start.



Mr. Sowore, who lives in New York from where he runs Sahara Reporters, first unveiled his presidential ambition during one of his regular visits to Nigeria last month.



Mr. Sowore’s bid gained widespread momentum after PREMIUM TIMES published an interview he granted it.

He lampooned President Muhammadu Buhari as a misfit in the interview, promising to offer an unprecedented leadership for a people he said had never been lucky with leaders since its independence in 1960.

“If there is anything we have learned in the last few years, it is the fact that the Nigerian electorate has become impatient with purposeless leadership,” Mr. Sowore said.

To actualise his ambition, he 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.”

Crowdfunding via channels like GoFundMe is one of the earliest but critical stages of Mr. Sowore’s campaign, although the activist said he had not identified a political platform under which he would run.

The Nigerian Constitution has no provisions for independent candidacy, although efforts to change this are currently part of the ongoing process to amend the Constitution.

GoFundMe did not immediately respond to PREMIUM TIMES e-mail seeking comments about the development Wednesday night.

But notwithstanding the reservations of GoFundMe against Mr. Sowore or the outcome of the dispute, the Sahara Reporters publisher strongly believes in his ability to see his ambition through.

“There is no going back!” He said in a Facebook update informing his followers of the development shortly after 11:00 a.m. Wednesday.


https://diasporareporters.com/2019-gofundme-suspends-omoyele-sowores-campaign-raise-2million/

Ok

They've only succeeded in giving him more publicity. Many people didn't know of this, now his gofundme account is going to soar.
Buhari must leave next year.

Political yahoo yahoo

You can't eat your cake and have it..

Gofundme knows that dude is not near a presidential candidate material..

He's a disgrace to journalism..

this eediot wants to reap where he did not sow. God is alive

Na joke he dey joke

Sowore only want gather some funds and run away

Sw

2 Million ginni? Sowore don see say the easiest way to show face in Forbes list is Politics.

Bari22:
Na joke he dey joke

it must be

Some people will say Buhari wrote GoFundMe to stop the campaign

This will only make him popular!!

Keep moving my man, you will still win at the end.

9ja we hail thee. Saraki, Atiku and the likes are scared so they've used their international connection to block his fund raising campaign. Only a revolution can save Nigeria

Barawon Banza stylishly collecting money from gullible Nigerians
Who will vote for him

As much as i dislike this guy, I think he is intelligent.
i like his courage

Karma came early

Abeg nairaland me sef wan raise just 100 Million to kick off my I don't even know which post. We can do it . Yayyyy

Ok

Nwogeh:
Keep moving my man, you will still win at the end.

how elaborate

Shebi today he wants to raise 2billion dollars. When Gej was raising his during the last presidential elections his media were talking trash up and down. Ntoor

Nawao

ok

do u think he can't do it? i'm sure you don't know the president

LAFO:
Some people will say Buhari wrote GoFundMe to stop the campaign

So I can open the gofundme and solicit for dollars Perhaps furnish one nice pity story?

It is just a minor hitch. He should create a proper website containing his manifesto and how he intends to actualize it if voted by breaking the manifesto into SMART goals and milestones them cap it up with PayPal, bitcoin, ethereum and other further funding means. Gofundme is just one avenue, if he had it listed with the other options I stated then it will be an inconsequential setback.

It serves him right. Sowore has brought shame to journalism with his love for money. He is under a curse, nothing will ever work for him unless he appologizes to Apostle Johnson Suleman