By Adegboyega Adeleye
Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has responded to Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) presidential candidate Donald Duke after the former Cross River State governor said he was unsure whether Sowore was running for office in the 2027 presidential election.
Duke described Sowore as a “voice of conscience,” saying the activist says things some politicians avoid because of political civility.
“Let me talk about Sowore. I like him. I’m not sure Sowore is running for office, with due respect to him, but I see him as a voice of conscience,” Duke said in an interview with the Naija Unfiltered Podcast.
“He says things that some of us, maybe due to civility, won’t say, but they’re real.”
Sowore, however, replied on his social media pages on Tuesday, thanking Duke for describing him as a voice of conscience but insisting that he was contesting the 2027 presidential election.
“Dear Donald Duke, thank you for describing me as a ‘voice of conscience’ and acknowledging that I say the things others in politics are too ‘civil’ to say, even when they know those things are true,” Sowore said.
“But let me clear up your uncertainty, and this is important for posterity: I AM RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA IN 2027.”
Sowore said his candidacy was reflected in the final list released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“In fact, INEC’s final list released has Omoyele Sowore as the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), just as it has Donald Duke as the candidate of the PRP,” he said.
He also argued that his presidential ambition differed from the conventional pursuit of political office.
“Perhaps what makes my candidacy difficult for some members of Nigeria’s political establishment (including yourself) to understand is that I am not running for office in the conventional sense of seeking power for its privileges, appointments or access to the national treasury,” Sowore said.
According to him, the AAC was seeking to fundamentally alter Nigeria’s political system.
“We, in the AAC are running to fundamentally change Nigeria,” he said.
“We are running to dismantle the rotten political order that has kept our people poor while enriching a tiny ruling class.”
Sowore listed equal rights, justice, living wages, education, healthcare, security, electricity and housing among the issues his party was campaigning on.
“We are running for equal rights, revolutionary justice, a living wage, free and quality education, decent healthcare, security, electricity, housing and a country that finally works for its people,” he said.
He also rejected the possibility of the AAC joining an opposition coalition whose main objective, according to him, would be to replace President Bola Tinubu with another member of the political establishment.
“And that is precisely why we will not disappear into an ‘opposition coalition’ whose principal ambition is merely to replace Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu with another member of the same establishment,” Sowore said.
Sowore concluded by returning to Duke’s description of him as a “voice of conscience”.
“So, my dear Mr. Former Gov. Duke, there should be no confusion, yes, I am a voice of conscience, yes, but that voice is also on the ballot,” he said. “See you on the campaign trail!”
He also referenced the presidential debate at the Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, telling Duke that his late arrival had prevented him from addressing the uncertainty over his candidacy.
“By the way, consider yourself lucky that you arrived late to the presidential debate at the Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt. I would have cleared your doubts by now,” Sowore added.
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