Former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowere, has described the current coalition talks as hollow, lacking ideological substance and purpose.
Sowore’s comments come amidst growing political realignment as various actors position themselves for the next presidential race. The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, have been leading the opposition front.
However, Sowore, during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, warned Nigerians that current coalition efforts lack vision and ideology, and will only strengthen President Bola Tinubu’s bid for re-election rather than challenge it. Sowore said Nigerians should stop relying on political elites, stressing they could be in a worse situation if they get distracted by the current coalition talks.
He said, “It is what they [the coalition] are doing that will make it easy for him [Tinubu] to rerun and return to office. They are preventing the real, organic coalition of the oppressed from emerging. People are getting distracted — Nigerians actually think these guys are fighting for them.
“I’m not a lone voice the coalition is what is lonely. That’s why they can’t even hold meetings or find a party to join.
Now they say they want to register a party — that’s loneliness. Any coalition without ideology is a lonely coalition. There’s no coalition without conviction, character, or integrity. “The people need to understand that the only way out is the one they design for themselves. There has to be a different direction. “If you keep letting them do what they are doing with you — and you get distracted by all these conversations about coalitions — you are going to find yourself in a worse situation than now. That has been Nigeria’s story since the emergence of civil rule.”
