- Why I Shunned Opposition Summit’s Invitation, Sowore Opens Up
The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has dangled it’s presidential tickets before Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, chieftains of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), urging the duo to join its platform and contest the 2027 elections.
In an X post on Sunday, the party hinted at a two-week window for Obi and Kwankwaso to join its platform and secure the presidential ticket.
“All we need right now. Just all we need. 2 weeks to deadline,” the party wrote.
The post featured a photo of Obi shaking hands with Kwankwaso, with the caption: “Nigeria will be OK”.
Last week, supporters of Obi and Kwankwaso launched the “OK Movement” to mobilise support for a possible joint ticket of the two politicians ahead of the 2027 elections.
Subsequently, Justin Ijeh, the movement’s National Publicity Secretary, announced the appointment of members into the national executive council, zonal, and state structures.
It wouldberecalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed May 30, 2026, as the deadline for parties to submit their membership registers and nominate candidates for the 2027 elections.
This is coming amid calls by opposition political parties on the electoral umpire to extend the deadline for party primaries to the end of July.
The parties include the ADC, led by Mark; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faction chaired by Kabiru Turaki; and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
The opposition party leaders said the current timetable set by the electoral body was designed to disadvantage them.
Meanwhile, Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 poll, has revealed why he turned down an invitation to attend the National Opposition Summit in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
He described the event as an attempt by entrenched political figures to rebrand themselves without accountability for past governance failures.
In a post on X post on Sunday, Sowore said there was no need to pretend that politicians who had previously presided over “stagnation, corruption, and systemic decay” could credibly position themselves as agents of progress.
He said many Nigerians are aware of the nation’s political history and would not be persuaded by their efforts.
“I declined the Ibadan ‘Opposition summit’. Nigerians deserve a genuine alternative, not recycled failure,” he said.
“I was invited to attend the so-called ‘Opposition Summit’ in Ibadan, but I declined.
“There is no need to pretend that the same men (and a few women) who held Nigeria to ransom for years, presiding over stagnation, corruption, and systemic decay, can suddenly reinvent themselves as champions of progress or defenders of the people.
“Not all Nigerians are suffering from amnesia.”
The Sahara Reporters publisher said he would not participate in a coalition aimed at recycling discredited political actors under the banner of opposition politics.
Sowore said the AAC distances itself from the ruling establishment and opposition groups, adding that the party would mobilise nationwide for support.
“For the avoidance of doubt, our revolutionary party, the African Action Congress (@aacparty), will not be part of any charade designed to recycle failed political actors under the guise of ‘opposition,” he said.
“Instead, we are committed to presenting a formidable, people-driven alternative, one rooted in integrity, accountability, and genuine transformation.
“We will mobilize Nigerians across the country to rally behind a credible vision that rejects the decadence and deception represented by both the @OfficialAPCNg and their opportunistic counterparts in ADC, PDP, Labour Party, and elsewhere.”
Sowore added that “political challenges require a decisive break from existing structures instead of a rearrangement of the same broken pieces”.
