Omoyele Sowore claims nearly all Nigerian opposition parties, except his AAC, are controlled or co-opted by the ruling APC as special purpose vehicles
Nigerian Opposition parties, with the sole exception of his African Action Congress (AAC), are under the pervasive influence and control of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), according to human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore.
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Speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Rubbin’ Minds’ talk show on Sunday, Sowore asserted that most of Nigeria’s opposition parties were either deliberately created by the APC or subsequently co-opted by them.
He described these parties as “special purpose vehicles” designed for the ruling party’s political convenience.
According to Sowore, the AAC, which he founded in 2018, remains the only genuinely independent opposition among the country’s 18 registered political parties.
“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,” Sowore said.
He elaborated, “They call them feeder parties or special purpose vehicles.”
He further alleged that the APC often funds these smaller parties during election seasons to serve strategic interests.
This includes filing legal challenges that can later be manipulated in the ruling party’s favour.
Sometimes, some of the candidates or the parties are meant to help them with legal challenge.
He added, “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.”
Sowore also criticised the behaviour of opposition parties during meetings with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He observed that many of them fail to act like a true opposition and appear ideologically aligned 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 stated.
When asked whether his criticism also extends to more prominent opposition parties like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), Sowore responded unequivocally, “Labour Party is the worst.”
He claimed that many LP members have since defected to the APC because, in his view, they were never truly opposed to the ruling party.
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Sowore concluded, “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.”
