Human rights activist and former presidential candidate under the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has condemned the calls by former All Progressives Congress (APC) members and former President Muhammadu Buhari’s ex-cabinet members to form a new political coalition, suggesting that many of them should be facing criminal prosecution rather than plotting political strategies.
In a recent interview aired on Symfoni, Sowore did not hold back in his criticism of the current administration, stating that President Bola Tinubu
’s government came only to complete the destruction of the country that, in his view, began under the Buhari-led regime.
“The Tinubu regime came to bury Nigeria after Buhari killed it. And people are still playing along with them. I don’t know what is wrong with Nigerians. We are not playing. That’s why we are not engaging in all this side hanky-panky about protests. When we are ready and when Nigerians are ready, we are interested in a revolution. We have made that very clear. Because that’s what can end this nonsense in our body polity,”he said.
Sowore expressed deep skepticism towards opposition figures emerging from within the establishment, arguing that they lack the moral and ideological credibility to effect any meaningful change.
“Not the kind of opposition where people like El-Rufai. No, those ones are not opposition. Those ones are coalitions of hungry people. So, and when the time comes, the moment they are offered what they want, they will go back to where they came from,” he asserted.
He continued, “Yeah, so that’s why you don’t say, because the APC was a coalition. And that’s still where they put us. And the people who are asking to form another coalition are former APC members. In fact, most of them are Buhari cabinet members who are supposed to be in prison. They are forming coalitions instead of, they should be in prison forming a union of prisoners. So what do you expect from that?”
Turning his attention to security issues and the handling of separatist agitation in the South-East, Sowore also condemned the militarisation of the region and the continued detention of IPOB leader,
Nnamdi Kanu
.
“It is the Nigerian government that goes to the South-East to go and militarise it. It’s the Nigerian government that refused to release Nnamdi Kanu, something that would have solved a big problem. And then instead of releasing him, we’re going to put army in the east. Every kilometer in the east, there are army checkpoints. But after 100 kilometers in the north, you can’t find the army. There was a man in Kastina who said there are only five guns in the local government in Kastina State. So these things are deliberate. That’s what I’m telling you,” he stated.
Sowore maintained that the real transformation of Nigeria could only happen when genuine leaders, elected by the people and not elite consensus, take control of the nation’s affairs.