Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has claimed that almost all of Nigeria’s opposition parties are under the influence of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), leaving his African Action Congress (AAC) as the only true opposition party.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Rubbin’ Minds on Sunday, Sowore said most of the country’s political parties were either created or co-opted by the APC to serve specific political interests. He described them as “special-purpose vehicles” designed to help the ruling party maintain power under the appearance of a multi-party system.
According to Sowore, the AAC, which he founded in 2018, remains the only party that is not aligned with the APC either openly or secretly. “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 said.
Sowore alleged that these smaller parties often receive financial support from the APC, especially during election periods. He explained that some of them are paid to file legal challenges after elections, which are later resolved in ways that benefit the ruling party.
“Sometimes, some of the candidates or the parties are meant to help them with legal challenge. So they all go and challenge the election, and whomever has won would approach either the opposition party or the smaller parties and settle them. Everybody gets paid and walks away,” he said.
He also noted that during meetings with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), many so-called opposition parties appear to take the side of the APC, making it difficult to tell who is truly in opposition. “The people that oppose us the most when we go to meetings are these other smaller parties that you think are in the opposition,” he added.
When asked if the same criticism applies to the country’s bigger opposition parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), Sowore did not hold back.
He said the Labour Party is “the worst” and described it as a temporary refuge for politicians who had left the APC or PDP only to return after gaining power.
“That’s why I refer to the Labour Party as a short rental. Most of them that went to 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’re coming from,” he said.
