A strongly worded statement shared by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, has condemned long-running criticisms of President Bola Tinubu by Tokunbo Pearce. 

The text, attributed to Prof. Adebayo Williams and dated November 10, 2026, describes Pearce’s attacks as scurrilous and spurious while recalling a decades-long personal connection between the two men.

Williams writes that he had hoped Pearce would not cross a particular line and that he had remained silent for years about the attacks. He says he feels particularly pained because he was the one who brought Pearce and Tinubu together and is aware of the assistance the President extended to Pearce. According to the statement, Tinubu himself has never raised the matter for discussion.

The account traces the friendship to the University of Sheffield, where Williams was a visiting doctoral student and honorary visiting lecturer in the Department of English between February 1981 and September 1982. Pearce was a graduate student at the same time, and the two became close friends. Williams later returned to the University of Ife to defend his doctoral thesis after a period at the University of Buffalo, while Pearce completed his own thesis in 1985 before leaving for the United States and remaining largely out of contact for nearly a decade.

Williams also recalls accompanying then-Senator Tinubu in 2003 on a visit to Chicago State University, Tinubu’s alma mater. He states that the group received a hero’s welcome and that the university accorded Tinubu the kind of reception normally reserved for distinguished alumni.

Photographs were taken and souvenirs received, which Williams cites as evidence inconsistent with claims of impropriety.

At 78, Williams argues, desperation has begun to cloud Pearce’s words and actions. He notes that if he were not familiar with Pearce’s late father, Commander Afolabi Pearse, and his brothers, retired Navy Captain Femi Pearse and Yomi Pearse, he might have concluded that shameless behaviour ran in the family. The statement ends with an assurance that other secrets remain safe “until he crosses another line.”

The post frames the episode as an illustration of the scarcity of honour and integrity in contemporary Nigerian politics, while positioning the personal history as a direct response to Pearce’s criticisms of the President.