Omoyele Sowore, human rights activist and publisher of Sahara Reporter, has declared his intention to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Sowore, the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), spoke on Friday during Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today.
Sowore said the AAC would hold its primaries next week but declined to say whether he would emerge as the party’s sole candidate.
“I am running to win,” he said.
“And it is because, as I’ve said several times, all the political parties are equal, and the better candidates should be able to win elections in this country, people with ideas.
“It’s different because these are different times also. Times are harder. Nigeria is in bigger trouble.”
The activist said he has better ideas for Nigeria than President Bola Tinubu and other opposition presidential hopefuls.
“All the ideas of the people you mentioned brought Nigeria into this cycle of poverty, insecurity, pain, sorrow, and tears,” he said.
“Do you want Nigeria to continue to get these same people elected or selected, whichever way they get themselves into office, so that they can suffer more, so that those of us who have ideas that can liberate this country will not be listened to?”
Sowore said his presidential ambition is aimed at providing Nigerians with what he described as a genuine alternative to the country’s mainstream political establishment.
The activist further commented on the ongoing digital membership registration exercise directed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He noted that the AAC had yet to submit its final register to the commission because a recent court judgment had permitted political parties to reopen their registration portals.
“We haven’t finally submitted, and that’s what this court judgment says. So if you have submitted now, the court says you can reopen your portal and start again. But we never stopped anyway,” he said.
The 2027 election will mark the third time Sowore is seeking Nigeria’s presidency on the platform of the AAC platform, having previously contested in the 2019 and 2023 general election.
Over the years, he has presented himself as an alternative to Nigeria’s traditional political establishment and has repeatedly criticised both the ruling and opposition parties over the country’s economic and security situation.
