•Omoyele Sowore
Amid renewed opposition talks ahead of the 2027 elections, activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has warned that current coalition efforts lack vision and ideology — and will only strengthen President Bola Tinubu’s bid for re-election rather than challenge it.
“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,” Sowore said on Channels Television last night.
Speaking as a guest on the show, Sowore described the current coalition talks as hollow, lacking ideological substance and purpose.
“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,” he said.
His comments come amidst growing political realignment as various actors position themselves for the next presidential race.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been championing the opposition front.
He has confirmed holding talks with Labour Party’s Peter Obi and former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai — who recently defected from the APC to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
However, the coalition efforts appear far from being cohesive. The PDP Governors’ Forum has openly distanced itself from the talks, citing concerns about undermining the party’s internal stability.
Similarly, Obi has made it clear that he will not join any alliance formed solely for seizing power, insisting that any merger must address Nigeria’s deeper governance problems.
El-Rufai’s move to the SDP added to the drama, but the party’s leadership has clarified that no formal alliance currently exists between the SDP and either El-Rufai or Atiku.
‘Different Direction’
Offering his own vision for a way forward, Sowore called on Nigerians to stop depending on political elites and begin crafting solutions on their terms.
“The people need to understand that the only way out is the one they design for themselves. There has to be a different direction,” he urged.
“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.”
The ex-presidential candidate added that, “We don’t have democracy in Nigeria. What we have is a transition to civil rule. What we’re looking for now is real democracy.”
Sowore also differentiated between what he described as authentic activism and opportunism disguised as coalition-building.
“I’m the leader of the coalition of the oppressed — not the coalition of the hungry, led by Amaechi and the others,” he said.
When asked whether Nigerians should place their hope in the current government and its policies amid the biting economy, Sowore countered that Nigerians are suffering and should never have been in this situation.
“No, I don’t think so — and I have warned Nigerians. The more you hope, the more you lose, regarding this government. It’s up to them to decide whether they want to keep suffering. No one should be in the situation Nigerians are in now.
“There is nothing to look forward to. Everything that’s going to happen to you in the next two years has already happened in the last two years. I’m not a prophet of doom, but if we continue on this trajectory, they’re not going to do anything meaningful regarding governance,” Sowore stated.
