Omoyele Sowore, a human rights activist and former presidential candidate, claims that all opposition parties in Nigeria, with the exception of his African Action Congress, are influenced and controlled by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Sowore alleged on Channels Television’s Rubbin’ Minds talk show on Sunday that the APC purposefully founded or co-opted the majority of Nigeria’s opposition groups as “special-purpose vehicles” for political convenience.
According to him, the AAC, which he created in 2018, is the only legitimate opposition among the country’s 18 registered political parties.
Sowore said, ”What we found out in our little research is that most of the parties that are left, apart from AAC, are parties that were created by the major parties.
“They call them feeder parties or special-purpose vehicles.”
He claimed that these smaller parties are often funded during election seasons by the APC to serve strategic interests, such as filing legal challenges that can be manipulated later in the ruling party’s favour.
Sowore explained, “Sometimes, some of the candidates or the parties are meant to help them with legal challenges.
“So they all go and challenge the election, and whoever has won would approach either the O or the smaller parties and settle them. Everybody gets paid and walks away.”
He also blasted opposition parties’ attitude during meetings with the Independent National Electoral Commission, claiming that many of them fail to function as opposition and appear ideologically tied with the APC.
“The people that oppose us the most when we go to meetings are these other smaller parties that you think are in the opposition,” Sowore argued.
When questioned if his criticism extended to other major opposition parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party, Sowore responded, “Labour Party is the worst.”
He argued that many LP members migrated to the APC because they had never seriously opposed the ruling party.
Sowore said, “That’s why I refer to the Labour Party as a short rental.
“Most of them that went to the Labour Party saw an opportunity. They were coming from either PDP or APC.
“They walked in there, grabbed power, and then the moment they had the booty bag, they went back to where they were coming from.”
