2027: Sowore Fires Back At APC Chieftain For Calling Him Skit Maker
The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has hit back at the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, for describing him as a ‘comedian and skit maker.’
Sowore accused Basiru of abandoning the principles of democracy and freedom they once fought for together during the struggle against military dictatorship.
He also recalled how he helped Basiru secure admission to study Law at the University of Lagos after his expulsion from the University of Ilorin.
In a statement posted on his social media handles on Wednesday, Sowore said he watched Basiru make the remarks during an interview on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television.
He accompanied his response with a photograph taken with Basiru in 1998, when he led the Congress of Progressive Youths (COPY).
Sowore said the photograph reflected their shared history in the struggle against military rule.
He added that the experience of COPY had provided an early indication of what Basiru would eventually become, although he declined to elaborate.
The AAC presidential candidate faulted Basiru’s argument that his participation in the 2027 presidential election was unserious because he lost the 2023 election to President Bola Tinubu.
According to him, the APC chieftain’s remarks suggested that opposition candidates should be ashamed of losing an election he described as deeply flawed.
Sowore also recounted how he received Basiru and Kunle Adegoke, popularly known as K-Rad, at the University of Lagos after they were expelled from the University of Ilorin in 1992 over student activism.
He said he provided both men with an enabling environment to seek readmission and study Law at the institution, where they eventually graduated with flying colours.
Sowore argued that the struggle for justice, democracy, freedom and human dignity should not be reduced to comedy or entertainment.
He accused Basiru of allowing the privileges of his current political position to influence his attitude towards the struggle that, according to him, helped shape the APC national secretary’s future.
“Political appointments are temporary. Tinubu’s regime will come and go, just like the military regimes we confronted in our youth,” Sowore said.
He added that the principles they fought for in 1994 remained relevant, insisting that his commitment to justice would outlast Basiru’s current political appointment.
“The struggle for freedom is not comedy. What is truly comical is watching yesterday’s beneficiaries of resistance become today’s defenders of the very oppression they once fought against,” he said.
Basiru had described Sowore as a comedian and skit maker while responding to a question about whether the APC would allow the AAC presidential candidate to launch his campaign at the Presidential Villa.
During the interview, Basiru said he worked for the APC rather than the president, before dismissing Sowore’s presidential ambition as unserious.
He urged Sowore to first demonstrate his political strength by winning a seat in a state House of Assembly before expecting Nigerians to take his ambitions seriously.
Basiru also argued that rejected ballot papers received more votes than the AAC in the 2023 presidential election, using the comparison to question the party’s popularity.
The APC national secretary insisted that Sowore was not a serious contender in the presidential race, despite their history as former student activists.
