Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has alleged that all opposition parties in Nigeria, except his own Africa Action Congress (AAC), are under the control or influence of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Sowore made this claim on Sunday during a television appearance on Rubbin’ Minds, a Channels TV talk show.
He described the opposition parties — aside from the AAC — as “feeders” or “special-purpose vehicles” created or manipulated by the ruling APC to serve its political agendas.
“What we found 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 alleged these parties are funded during elections by the APC to undermine genuine opposition.
“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.”
Sowore also condemned the role opposition parties played during meetings with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), alleging many of them acted in the ruling party’s interest.
“The people that oppose us the most when we go to meetings are these other smaller parties that you think are in opposition.”
When asked if his criticism extends to more established opposition parties like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), Sowore responded, “Labour Party is the worst.”
He explained that many members of LP were originally from the APC or PDP and simply crossed over for political opportunity.
“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.”
