Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 election, says he rejected an invitation to attend the National Opposition Summit in Ibadan, describing it as an “attempt by entrenched political figures to rebrand themselves.”

 

 

 

Opposition leaders gathered in Ibadan over the weekend, agreeing to work towards presenting a single presidential candidate for the 2027 general election.

 

 

 

The coalition reportedly includes the African Democratic Congress (ADC), led by David Mark, a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chaired by Kabiru Turaki, and the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).

 

 

 

Reacting in a post on social media, Sowore said he deliberately stayed away from the summit, insisting that politicians responsible for years of stagnation and corruption cannot suddenly present themselves as agents of change.

 

 

 

“I declined the Ibadan ‘Opposition Summit’. Nigerians deserve a genuine alternative, not recycled failure,” he wrote on independence

 

 

 

He added that he saw no reason to believe that the same political actors who contributed to the country’s challenges could now reposition themselves as defenders of the people.

 

 

 

Sowore also stated that the AAC would not be part of what he described as a political charade aimed at recycling failed politicians under the guise of opposition politics.

 

 

 

He further stressed that Nigeria’s political challenges require a decisive break from existing structures, rather than a reshuffling of the same political actors.