The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has berated the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ajibola Basiru, over his description of him as a “skit maker” and “comedian,” recalling their shared history in the struggle against military rule in the 1990s.
Sowore accused the APC chieftain of abandoning the democratic ideals they once fought to defend, arguing that political power and appointments should not make former pro-democracy activists turn against the principles they upheld during military dictatorship.
It was reported that the exchange followed Basiru’s appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, where he questioned Sowore’s political relevance and claimed that rejected ballot papers secured more votes than the AAC in the 2023 general elections.
Basiru had also challenged Sowore to first demonstrate his electoral strength by winning a seat in the State House of Assembly before expecting to be taken seriously in national politics.
In a statement posted on X, Sowore responded by sharing a photograph of himself and Basiru taken in 1998, when he led the Congress of Progressive Youths (COPY), a pro-democracy organisation.
“I watched an interview on Politics Today on Channels Television, anchored by Seun Okinbaloye, in which the APC National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, called me a ‘skit maker’ and ‘comedian’,” Sowore wrote.
Recalling their history, the AAC candidate said he received Basiru at the University of Lagos after the latter was expelled from the University of Ilorin in 1992 over his involvement in student activism.
According to Sowore, he and other activists, including Kunle Adegoke, popularly known as K-Rad, helped Basiru secure an opportunity to return to university and study law.
“Both eventually graduated with flying colours and went on to accomplish great things,” he said.
Sowore said Basiru’s comments were particularly disappointing given their shared experiences in the pro-democracy movement and the sacrifices made by activists in the fight against military dictatorship.
He maintained that the struggle for justice, freedom and democratic governance should not be trivialised as entertainment, insisting that his political activism remained rooted in the same ideals they had defended in their youth.
“The struggle for justice, democracy, freedom and the preservation of human dignity is neither skit-making nor comedy,” he said.
The former presidential candidate also criticised Basiru’s argument that opposition politicians should be ashamed of losing to President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.
Sowore described the position as flawed, stressing that electoral setbacks did not invalidate the democratic principles or political causes championed by opposition figures.
He further argued that political appointments and positions of authority were temporary, predicting that the current administration would eventually leave office.
“Political appointments are temporary. Tinubu’s regime will come and go, just like the military regimes we confronted in our youth,” he said.
Sowore concluded by accusing Basiru and other former activists who now occupy positions of power of abandoning the principles they once defended against oppression.
“What is truly comical is watching yesterday’s beneficiaries of resistance become today’s defenders of the very oppression they once fought against,” he wrote.
