Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, declared a week before the February 25 presidential election that Nigeria is in a similar political condition to 2003.
The nomination of late and renowned human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, on the ballot, according to the AAC standard bearer, provided the country with “a chance to bail itself out of corruption, poverty, and persecution” in 2003.
Late Fawehinmi, a human rights lawyer, ran for president under his National Conscience Party on April 19, 2003. The election was eventually won by then-incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo, who defeated his closest opponent, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret. ), by more over 11 million votes.
Fawehinmi received 161,333 votes in the election, accounting for around 0.4% of the total votes of 39.4 million.
Tweeting on Saturday, the AAC candidate said, “Today, we are confronted with the same situation in 2023.”
“In 2003, Nigerians had a chance to bail out of corruption, starvation and oppression when Chief Gani Fawehinmi presented himself as a candidate of the National Conscience Party, a party he founded in 1994.”
Sowore claimed that the ruling political class brainwashed many Nigerians not to vote for him (Fawehinmi). “Some even declared that the ‘devil we know is better than the angel we can’t trust,’ they said he was too ‘stubborn’ undiplomatically ‘rude’ against leaders and statesmen.” He said the late activist was also accused of “not being an experienced thief,” and that they preferred incremental punishment. “But Gani told his truth, making what would be the closing remarks during the 2003 general election. It was the last of such contentious,” Sowore stated.
Similarity?
Sowore ran for president for the first time in 2019 under the AAC, the party he formed, receiving 33,953, or 0.12% of the vote.
Buhari won a second term with 15,191,847 votes, or around 56% of the vote, defeating his closest competitor, Atiku Abubakar, by nearly four million votes. Atiku received 41.2% of the overall vote count of 27.3 million.
Election Day is February 25th.
This year’s elections will include eighteen political parties.
Among those vying for the presidency are Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Sowore of the AAC, and Kola Abiola of the Peoples Redemption Party.
Nigerians are crossing their arms as they wait for the results of the elections.