Political activist Aisha Yesufu has criticised a social media user for dragging Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate Peter Obi into an online controversy surrounding the death of gospel singer Toluwanisings, Peak Newspaper reports.
The exchange followed a post by Emir Sadam, who linked the singer’s death to his alleged support for the All Progressives Congress (APC), arguing that the incident should serve as a lesson to Nigerian celebrities who campaign for the ruling party.
In his post, Sadam claimed that Toluwanisings had used his talent to campaign for politicians he accused of contributing to Nigeria’s challenges.
“He used his God-given talent to campaign for the very people who took his life,” Sadam wrote, adding that the singer was the second celebrity who had openly campaigned for the APC to die within less than two months.
His comments triggered criticism from some social media users, including Akin Olaoye, who condemned the use of the singer’s death to make a political point.
Olaoye argued that although issues such as the state of Nigeria’s healthcare system, hospital preparedness and doctors’ strikes deserved public debate, a family’s loss should not be turned into political content.
He also explained that his decision to tag Obi was intended to question whether such commentary reflected the standards expected of the presidential candidate’s movement and its supporters.
“The original post didn’t discuss healthcare capacity or doctors’ strikes. It used a man’s death to score a political point. Those are two different things,” Olaoye stated.
