Omoyele Sowore Slams Ibadan Summit, Advocates New Political Direction

Publisher and former Presidential Candidate of the African Action Congress in the 2023 election, Omoyele Sowore, has condemned Saturday’s opposition summit held in Ibadan, which had in attendance several political stakeholders across opposition parties, noting that Nigerians deserve a genuine alternative.

Opposition political parties in Nigeria, during a summit held in Ibadan on Saturday, resolved to form a united front against what they described as attempts to impose a one-party system ahead of the 2027 general elections.

In a statement on Saturday, Sowore disclosed that he was invited by the organisers of the summit, explaining that he declined the invite because it brought together individuals who held Nigerians to ransom during their previous administrations.

The former presidential candidate argued that those who presided over what he described as stagnation, corruption, and systemic decay cannot reinvent themselves as champions of progress or defenders of the people.

Writing on his official X handle, Sowore said, “I Declined the Ibadan ‘Opposition Summit’ Nigerians Deserve a Genuine Alternative, Not Recycled Failure. I was invited to attend the so-called “Opposition Summit” in Ibadan, but I declined.”

“There is no need to pretend that the same men (and a few women) who held Nigeria to ransom for years, presiding over stagnation, corruption, and systemic decay, can suddenly reinvent themselves as champions of progress or defenders of the people. Not all Nigerians are suffering from amnesia.”

Sowore declared that his political party, the AAC, would not be a party to “a charade designed to recycle failed political actors,” emphasising that the AAC would present a formidable front ahead of the 2027 election.

He wrote, “For the avoidance of doubt, our revolutionary party, the African Action Congress (@aacparty ), will not be part of any charade designed to recycle failed political actors under the guise of ‘opposition.”

“Instead, we are committed to presenting a formidable, people-driven alternative, one rooted in integrity, accountability, and genuine transformation.”

“We will mobilise Nigerians across the country to rally behind a credible vision that rejects the decadence and deception represented by both the @OfficialAPCNg and their opportunistic counterparts in ADC, PDP, Labour Party and elsewhere,” he added.

“Nigeria does not need a rearrangement of the same broken pieces, it needs a complete break from the past,” he concluded.