Why I didn’t attend opposition summit despite invitation — Sowore

Former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has said he deliberately declined an invitation to attend an opposition summit in Ibadan, Oyo State, insisting that Nigeria needs a genuine alternative, not a coalition of recycled political actors.

Sowore made this known in a post on X on Sunday, where he criticised the credibility of the summit and those in attendance, saying many of them had previously contributed to the country’s problems.

“I was invited to attend the so-called ‘Opposition Summit’ in Ibadan, but I declined,” he wrote.

“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.”

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He said the AAC would not associate with what he described as a misleading political alliance aimed at rebranding failed leaders.

“For the avoidance of doubt, our revolutionary party, the African Action Congress, will not be part of any charade designed to recycle failed political actors under the guise of ‘opposition,’” he said.

Sowore added that his party remains focused on building a people-centred movement driven by accountability and integrity.

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

He further accused major political parties of sharing the same political culture, regardless of their differences.

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

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