'Its Time To Save Nigeria’, Sowore Rallies Nigerians For 2027 Pres'l Race

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Guys.

[00:00:04]Let's move on now to politics Kyrie. Oh yes and it's a season of emergence of candidates particularly presidential candidates across the political parties in Nigeria or the APC.

[00:00:19]Of course expected a president Bola Tinubu is a flag bearer for the ADC we got confirmation late yesterday that former vice president Atiku Abubakar will be the flag bearer again for a lot of people no surprises and we're expecting the NDC which will begin its primary tomorrow but during the week as well the AAC held its own primaries and the AC has a presidential candidate now officially. For the 2027 election and we're joined by the candidates of the AAC Mr. Omoyele Sowore joins us on the program this morning. Good morning and welcome.

[00:01:02]>> Thank you. Thank you for having me on your show. Good morning and uh happy Salah holiday season.

[00:01:11]>> Well >> [clears throat] >> for politicians you definitely don't go on holidays cuz the work continues day and night which is quite grueling I must say but I speak to us about the process that brought you in as the presidential candidate of the AAC as we've seen with the APC and the ADC. Yours is also no surprise in that sense. So what is it with the AAC or with you I should say that always returns you as a presidential candidate of the AAC?

[00:01:44]>> Unanimous.

[00:01:47]Well it's a a decision taken by the party.

[00:01:51]Members. [clears throat] Uh in conjunction with party leadership it's a process that conforms with the current electoral act and uh what we decided in AAC was that uh we adopt the consensus process where all the party members across board uh accepts a presidential candidate who uh who has indicated interest in running the on on the party's platform.

[00:02:23]So, that's what happened and uh it was done openly. It was live-streamed for hours for all to see.

[00:02:31]Uh and as you know that's a decision of the party and it conforms with party constitution as well.

[00:02:41]>> So Talk to us about your party membership.

[00:02:44]We've seen the APC come up with about 11 million. The ADC yesterday give or take about 2.5 million. Mr. Atiku Abubakar got almost uh uh 2 million. Uh Mr. Moghalu got 500,000 of the votes.

[00:03:00]Mr. Ayatse got 100 and something thousand. So, put it together about 2.5.

[00:03:04]What is the membership like for the AAC?

[00:03:10]>> Well, the membership of the AAC grows on a daily basis because our recruitment process never stopped. Uh but what we submitted to INEC the last time when our party registration was due 50,000 verifiable strong members across board.

[00:03:31]And most of these members registered online. We started online registration before any political party in Nigeria.

[00:03:38]You remember when I came to your studio in 20 and I mean in January, I mentioned that we led the trail regarding online registration.

[00:03:49]And we are not here to make up numbers.

[00:03:52]Uh these are the people who indicated themselves who registered their names as members of the political party known as the AAC and whose names, addresses verifiable, uh phone numbers we submitted to INEC.

[00:04:08]We didn't make up numbers. We didn't use INEC voters register to create fake accounts, but the other parties you have mentioned, of course, did it because they wanted to do uh direct primaries in which I mean their primaries weren't the same as ours. But just so that you know, that's that's that's what we have presented to INEC.

[00:04:35]>> So, did you say 50,000?

[00:04:38]>> Yes, about 50,000 strong members.

[00:04:42]No filters. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you that we have 10 million people that are fake.

[00:04:49]>> All right. Jeffrey, go ahead.

[00:04:53]All right. So, let's let's talk about the chances, you know, of your party to be able to come into this race and make an impression. Now, looking through the numbers of when you started off contesting, [snorts] that should be, if I'm correct, please correct me if I'm wrong, uh 2019, the record I have here, fifth position, 33, 953 votes. 2023, about 14,600 votes. That's 16th position. So, if you plot a tangent, it slopes downward almost by half. And the election in 2027 perhaps will be very competitive given that the same front-liners and additional people have joined the race.

[00:05:36]Talk to us about what you think is going to be how you may fare given the trend that I just read out.

[00:05:45]>> Well, the the trend you read out are trends that have defined our politics and have robbed the political system of credibility.

[00:05:55]I keep telling you, and I've said this publicly, and it's been proven in some court cases, uh that these election results you always present in the Nigerian public are not legitimate. They are figures that were put together through a process of rigging and manipulation. That is why INEC has zero credibility today. I mean Independent National Electoral Commission. And whenever these numbers are read, you are reading from a jaundice position of how this organization has fared.

[00:06:32]I have asked, and I say it all the time, that people who assigned these numbers are in INEC. And when these numbers are read to my hearing, we dispute them because they don't don't come from the Nigerian people. People didn't vote for the people who are in power. And the people they vote for don't count because our electoral process has no credibility. And that's why we end up, most of the time, in court uh disputing these figures and also telling Nigerian people that free, fair, and credible elections are central to real democracy. So, when you read the numbers, also put, you know, put it at the back of your mind that you are just reading out numbers to the Nigerian people that are false and have no credibility because we, in those years, did not organize, I'm talking about 2019 and 2023, did not organize free and fair elections, credible elections. Yeah, and we all know >> Mr. Mr. Sowore, that's the Yeah, Mr. Sowore, that that's the record we have from INEC. And fortunately, unfortunately are you're going to subject yourself to the same electoral umpire in 2027?

[00:07:49]And election is about the game of numbers. I do not think anybody would doubt how you built your career, how you come this far from the days of Unilag up to this moment. At least you're one of the politicians who can trace his history and you're still in the trenches because we see you on the street protesting or advocating. So, all of those really not in doubt. But when push come to shove, it's about numbers.

[00:08:17]And those numbers will be decided by the people, managed by the electoral umpire.

[00:08:22]Now, you've dis- disputed the 33,000 or the 16,000 in two successive elections, but you're now out again for this election. So, that's why I'm asking that question about your ability to fare within the system that you heavily criticized as far as the election is concerned. So, what exactly are you trying to say if you constantly disagree with the numbers, but you show up every time still for this electoral umpire? Is it that you're hoping that it's going to be better?

[00:08:55]>> I'm not hoping that it will better. I'm fighting to ensure that we actually have real elections and you understand that I was one of the leaders of the protestations against INEC few months ago when the National Assembly came up with new electoral act that we know will rob the people once again of their rights to have free, credible, and fair elections. So, I am saying candidly to you that these numbers are not legitimate. As to whether I will fare well with INEC as it is, well, of course, I don't trust INEC, but I trust the Nigerian people.

[00:09:38]where we trust on the consciousness that we built with our people that we can force a free and fair electoral process on INEC.

[00:09:47]You know, uh when you reel out these numbers, I want to remind you that these numbers that you reel out that are not legitimate, that are not correct, that do not have integrity, do not form a basis for us to have conversation about free and fair elections. So, you can't say that oh, because INEC presented fake numbers, we must accept them as fit and complete. No. I am not the kind of person that will accept very wrong things as the right things simply because we've been doing a wrong thing for a long time and that we should just accept that there's nothing we can do about it. I am not the only one.

[00:10:23]Almost every candidate in the 2023 election disputed these numbers.

[00:10:28]In fact, what is an irony is that even the candidates that went to court would read their own numbers, but reject the numbers that they got in the election. Irony. But, that is what That's not what we are here to talk about. We are here to talk about to the Nigerian people that they have a chance now, having known that the people who come into office through INEC rigged elections are going to put them back in poverty, in misery, and make their lives terrible. They're going to leave your children in the hands of kidnappers.

[00:11:03]They're going to make your schools unsafe. Your roads are going to kill you. They keep putting your hospitals as death centers and not health centers. I think those conversations are what we should be having and have a chance to speak directly to the Nigerian people.

[00:11:18]By the way, sir, I hope that just as you are able to interview me after I became the candidate of my party, we won't hear that the other persons like the president of Nigeria who is the candidate of APC cannot come to the media to explain what he plans to do for Nigerian people.

[00:11:37]Or that you guys will not shield the candidate of the ADC, Atiku, from coming to the media because we must question everybody who has presented himself or whose party have presented Nigerian people. You must have them come to your hot seats or mild seats or you know, cool seats to discuss how we're going to move this Nigeria out of, you know, the misery and doldrum into which dead ancestors put it into. And before you say that I'm diverting or you know, digressing, I'm just saying those are the most important issues. And of course, we must ensure that elections are credible. And it's not something that INEC should dictate to us. It's what Nigerian people should dictate to INEC. And that's why we're in this race and that's why we've never given up. By the way, as you know, since 2019 that I started running for office, uh established with my friends and colleagues and comrades, a political party. I have been one of the most consistent candidates who has fought for electoral integrity. I'll ensure that we fight against corruption and incompetence and uh haven't allowed this country to be buried underground because we're active unlike the other candidates who uh come to Nigeria on vacation during election years. And we've had this conversation, you know, over and over again. And by the way, I thank you for bringing me in. This is conversation we had last time that you must constantly allow Nigerians to be engaged with candidates who have credible agenda, ideas, and manifestos, and credibility to serve the country and stop reading numbers that are manipulated, badly mangled together to rig people into office, make Nigeria uh become the poverty capital of the world and an ungovernable space today.

[00:13:21]>> All right. Uh just before we leave the numbers, um let's continue the conversation around your strategy for a bit in order to understand how you intend to get to the top job in the country. There are 8,809 wards, about 176,000 plus polling units. And I'm just checking to be very sure that perhaps the AAC has won an election in the past at any level.

[00:13:49]I'm yet to see that that any candidate of the AAC had won an election. You can correct me if that is wrong. So, if you have a behemoth of logistics to attend to, and as it is known in Nigerian political parlance and culture, there must be a structure on ground. So, does the AAC have the capacity to mobilize polling agents to ensure that it gets all of the votes in your favor that should come to you in this election, or are you just relying on the good reasoning of Nigerians, you know, to help you deliver victory in this election? What exactly is the strategy?

[00:14:35]>> Well, the first and foremost, AAC has structures across the country. We just had our primary elections, and I told you it was live-streamed, so there's nothing to hide. People came from across the country, all the states, almost all the states, and state chairmen and secretaries were not attendants. We had members from across the country.

[00:14:59]As a digital party, we also live-streamed, and we had people join us through Zoom at this primary. So, we have the structures. We have the capacity, and we keep building up on our ability to reach some of the most remote areas of the country. I'm lucky to understand that technology will be a driver for political participation and engagement as as far back as 2018. Like I mentioned to you, we have we have been the first to blaze a trail in terms of online registration before it became the norm now. So, we do have and I would admit that we need to reach more people and mobilize people. Our app, by the way, will be out any moment from now, so already now, which will enable Nigerians to download, participate, find their polling units, find uh their uh their wards and organize and volunteer for the campaign. Yes, we do not have stolen money from the state coffers to buy votes and we're not going to buy votes. We are going to sell ideas to the Nigerian people and I'm saying to you humbly humbly that we're going to need Nigerians not only to understand us, but to also understand that this is about them.

[00:16:18]This is about freeing yourselves, it's about liberating yourself. We can't keep pretending that our old political style and system of buying votes, buying delegates, and then rigging elections, engaging in violence is going to take us anywhere. You've seen it. They've been doing it since 1999.

[00:16:36]It took you nowhere. So, it is time for ideas to prevail and be legitimate and to percolate to everybody. Say, "Look, if you already agree that there's a candidate who's got integrity, character, who has vision, why are we making it sound like that should not be where we should go, that we should always go with people who have no ideas, who practice violence, who don't believe in you, who steal whatever is left and meant for you and your children and the future? That is not the way to go. And, you know, I I'm saying this because I think I don't want the conversation today to fly over anybody's head. They say, "Oh, you know, She already came, he's angry. No, uh of course, I'm angry about the condition of our country, but I'm not angry with the Nigerian people because I know that they've been putting you down over and over again for years.

[00:17:27]>> So >> And some of you are so beaten down and confused that you don't even know what is right from what is wrong again because But the conversation should be about how to save this country and how to make the country work and how to have a sustainable and nationally secure and self-sufficient. That is what we are here to sell to Nigerians.

[00:17:47]>> Sowore, >> This is how elections are done all over the world. You know, there are people with ideas and the ideas are allowed to get to everybody who needs to hear them.

[00:17:57]And I again, I want to thank you for bringing me back because that was the conversation and agreement we had the last time that you will allow these ideas to keep getting on to the people, that you will not interview me five times in an election season where you interview the other people 10,000 times.

[00:18:12]>> All right, Mr. Sowore, >> you haven't asked me for money. So, I am glad that we're doing that, but let's keep this going. And those who don't want to talk will never be heard and those who want to speak must be heard across the country and across the world.

[00:18:25]>> Sowore, for those who see you, Omoyele Sowore, as a traditional runner for the office of president and is not going to win, they think you're not going to win, but ask, "Why don't you, you know, test your popularity and perhaps this time you could win if you run for the House of Representatives or the Senate and begin to change the system from within?"

[00:18:47]What would you say to them?

[00:18:50]>> Well, you know, I cannot help those people who project their weaknesses on others or who have inferiority complex or any kind of complex that has paralyzed them to the point that they will look at a person with integrity, somebody who has brain, you know, who is 56 years old, qualified according to the electoral laws, that you must go for a lower office because you can you can only think small. You know, I have said it now. People have advised me to go to Ondo State and I said if I transform Ondo State, what happens to Kwara State, Kogi State, what happens to Edo State, what happened to Ogun State? I'm talking about the surrounding states. They will overwhelm Ondo State. So, the country that the place that needs to be transformed is the entire country. If you believe in what I'm telling you that we can work together and make this country work. Let's go for it. Those who want to go to the National Assembly, they are at liberty to go there and enjoy their time and transform the place. Those who want to go inside and transform from inside, they are at liberty to do it. But, we know everybody that said they want to go inside how they have ended up in the symmetry of the inside and we no longer hear from them. It's like satellite lost in the space. I want to do my best in my lifetime to make my country Nigeria work. I want Nigeria to enjoy prosperity, peace, progress, and security. I know how to do it. I know we can do it. You don't need a talisman to construct roads or send children to school and protect them or pay police and workers very well, uh pay teachers, retain your doctors, invest in education, invest in women, and have an economic model that targets different demographics that brings prosperity like they've done in India. They're doing it even in Botswana. Uh small countries.

[00:20:40]So, don't let us keep having an argument that is a cake and backward in thinking. You know, what I keep hearing from people say that is that oh, we must keep having a president that doesn't know what he's doing, but we must keep having House of Rep members who are sharp. So, which one would you rather do? The sharp guy becomes president and then he encourages and inspire other sharp people to be in the National Assembly. You know, appoint sharp people to be in the judiciary. You know, appoint great people to manage the economy. Because the president of the country is the chief recruitment officer for sharp people.

[00:21:18]And the chief recruitment officers for dull people if it's dull.

[00:21:23]Well, this is clearly going to be a very interesting build up and we look forward to engaging on policies and all of the big conversations. We definitely give a platform to everyone who's willing to of course be a part of it. But I you know, we've seen all sorts during these primaries.

[00:21:42]We've seen the geometric counting for the APC and for the ADC and we've asked each of these parties what exactly is going on. If this is how your process is, what do we then expect of you if you get into power? And I wanted to do the same for the AAC. And I mean, there are videos online from your primaries in Abuja. And we see yeah, some of the people appearing to be covering their eyes or their faces rather. People wondering who are you hiding from? And you just see some of them looking uninterested when there was a big or there's a big event happening.

[00:22:21]So perhaps you can also speak to that.

[00:22:23]What exactly was playing out with these young people? I mean, if you if you continue with the video, you see them covering their faces. I mean, they should be excited, right? So what's going on, Mr. Sowore? Any ideas?

[00:22:38]>> Well, I I think I think you know, I understand that the media needs different angles and bureaus from any event whenever there's an event. You know, the party you are showing was the time that the event may not have started. There's lighting in the room from photographers and videographers that may have made people to cover their faces. But let me say this to you and which is important that you just need to go and watch the entire program which lasted for almost 3 or 4 hours and you see nothing but positive energy. It was dancing. I don't see you showing the bureau of when people were singing Nigeria jagajaga and dancing to Fela music and also the speeches. Why are you not showing the speeches? One of the most powerful speech that was given [clears throat] during this election season. I think that's what we should focus on. But here is what I want to say. Just so that you clear your doubts about what might have been your bureau from the scene is that, you know, when the primaries of the serious parties organized, all kinds of people are you know, invited. The participants, we also go out of our way any serious party to you know, invite observers. We invite students. We invite workers. All of them were there. After the event, you see that I went round and started greeting people. A group of bike riders came from Bwari and why did they come? I was in Bwari a week before and found out the DPO seized over 150 bikes from them and were trying to extort them and I reported to the CP who made sure, I mean the FCT CP, immediately made sure that their bikes were released to them. They came to honor me at this primaries. So we have an array of participants. But I urge you not to be biased and not to play games with the emotions of the public by playing the speech I gave at the event, by playing the music and the dancing and the chanting that took place at this event and you get a different result. So showing one section of you know, a hall that's packed full of young, energetic, positive party members of AAC and saying that they are covering their faces or they are tired. You know, if if that's is what we want to do, we are doing the same thing that is pouring cold water on an event that was powerfully delivering on the future of these people. If I'm talking about the future of Nigerians, who do you think I want to talk to? I want to bring the students into the place. We're talking about economy. We want to bring women because we We discuss and I and I hope this analysis becomes central to the conversation. Like I said, we want to see more of this happening in the hall and not a section of a bureau, you know, because the journalists can go inside the hall and go take bureau of what they want to present to the public.

[00:25:41]>> Well, we have shown all the sides, Mr. Sowore, and just as we've done with the APC, the ADC asked about their process.

[00:25:47]Why did you count this way?

[00:25:50]Is it going to be penalty? Did you add the figures that were counted wrongly?

[00:25:53]Uh we thought it fair to also >> But we didn't we didn't count we didn't count >> No, no, no, I'm saying that we had scrutinized what I'm The point I'm making is we scrutinized the process of the APC, the ADC. We will do so for the NDC. And the same we're doing for the AAC. And I think you should thank us for giving you the opportunity to speak to exactly what played out there. So, it clears the air whatever is going on online cuz I'm sure you've seen some of those comments.

[00:26:16]>> Yeah, yeah, I appreciate you know, look, I I understand I understand that we need to we they need to troll us because they never >> is not trolling. Mr. Sowore, I mean, you know us too well. You know us too well.

[00:26:28]This is not trolling.

[00:26:29]>> I'm not talking about what you are doing.

[00:26:30]>> Okay.

[00:26:30]>> I we're talking about No, no, I'm not talking about you. Most of these things you are picking up come from the vibes of trolls on on on Twitter. They've been on our They've been on our case since this convention took place cuz they never expected our convention to be as great as this. You know, they are used to the convention that have SUVs, big men, and you know, colorful, but this one was just sheer energy brilliance and authoritative discipline and dignity of people who are oppressed who are united.

[00:27:00]>> All right. Mr. Sowore it was a pleasure speaking with you. This is just the scratch of sorts. We're scratching the surface. I will definitely engage you. We hope to also get the chairman of the AAC and other people come to engage us as we have other parties on a panel.

[00:27:17]>> So absolutely.

[00:27:17]>> All of us can speak to the ideas of policies and give Nigerians at least a full picture. Of what the parties and the candidates have.

[00:27:25]>> And let and let them and let them choose and choose the best.

[00:27:28]>> Absolutely. That is our desire. But again we have to thank you. You always show up. That is one thing no one can take away from you unlike some others. Mr. Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, publisher Sahara Reporters. Thank you for your time. Now presidential candidate in the build-up.

[00:27:46]We wish you the very best.

[00:27:48]>> Thanks for having me. Have a nice holiday season.

[00:27:53]>> Well, holiday is a word strange to us right here. We'll take a quick break now.

[00:27:58]And when we return, the conversation continues. Stay with us.