Former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has described the current coalition talks as hollow, lacking ideological substance and purpose.
Naijaonpoint reports that Sowore’s comments come amidst growing political realignment as various actors position themselves for the next presidential race.
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, have been leading the opposition front.
However, Sowore, during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, warned Nigerians that current coalition efforts lack vision and ideology, and will only strengthen President Bola Tinubu’s bid for re-election rather than challenge it.
Sowore said Nigerians should stop relying on political elites, stressing they could be in a worse situation if they get distracted by the current coalition talks.
He said, “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.
“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.
“The people need to understand that the only way out is the one they design for themselves. There has to be a different direction.
“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.”
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.
He added, “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.”