Sowore Blasts APC National Secretary, Recalls Pro-Democracy Struggle After ‘Skit Maker’ Jibe
Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), has launched a scathing response to the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ajibola Basiru, over his description of him as a “skit maker” and “comedian.”
Sowore accused the APC chieftain of abandoning the democratic ideals they once defended during the struggle against military dictatorship in the 1990s, insisting that his activism should not be dismissed as entertainment.
The exchange followed Basiru’s appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, where he questioned Sowore’s political relevance and claimed that rejected ballot papers received more votes than the AAC in the 2023 general elections.
Basiru also challenged Sowore to prove his electoral strength by winning a seat in a State House of Assembly before expecting to be taken seriously in national politics.
In a statement posted on X, Sowore countered the remarks by sharing a photograph of himself and Basiru taken in 1998, recalling their shared history in the pro-democracy movement.
According to the AAC candidate, he received Basiru at the University of Lagos after the latter was expelled from the University of Ilorin in 1992 over his involvement in student activism.
Sowore said he and other activists, including Kunle Adegoke, popularly known as K-Rad, helped Basiru secure an opportunity to return to university and study law.
He noted that both men eventually graduated with distinction and went on to achieve significant milestones in their respective careers.
The activist said Basiru’s comments were particularly disappointing given the sacrifices they and other pro-democracy campaigners made in opposing military rule.
“The struggle for justice, democracy, freedom and the preservation of human dignity is neither skit-making nor comedy,” Sowore said.
He also faulted Basiru’s argument that opposition politicians should be ashamed of losing to President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election, maintaining that electoral defeat does not invalidate the principles or causes they represent.
Sowore further argued that political appointments and positions of authority were temporary, predicting that the current administration would eventually leave office.
“Political appointments are temporary. Tinubu’s regime will come and go, just like the military regimes we confronted in our youth,” he said.
Concluding his response, Sowore accused some former activists who now occupy positions of power of abandoning the principles they once defended.
“What is truly comical is watching yesterday’s beneficiaries of resistance become today’s defenders of the very oppression they once fought against,” he wrote.
