We Won’t Join You – Sowore Rejects Utomi’s Fresh Coalition Talks

The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has rejected fresh moves by the Movement for Credible Elections to unite opposition presidential candidates behind a single candidate for the 2027 election.

Sowore, in a statement on Thursday morning, said neither he nor the AAC was participating in the coalition discussions being coordinated by a political commission led by Professor Pat Utomi.

He declared that the party would not join the proposed negotiations, insisting that the AAC’s political programme was fundamentally different from that of the established political parties.

“I have read a report … stating that a Political Commission led by Prof. Pat Utomi intends to hold talks with several presidential candidates, including myself, with the objective of producing a single opposition presidential candidate for the 2027 election.

“For the avoidance of doubt, neither I nor the African Action Congress (AAC) is part of these talks, and we will not be joining any such coalition,” Sowore said.

The AAC candidate said the party’s position was based on its ideological orientation, rather than political convenience or negotiations aimed at securing access to power.

He argued that the party could not form an alliance with what he described as the political establishment it had consistently opposed.

“Many of the politicians now presenting themselves as an ‘alternative’ have, at different times, operated within the same political order, across the APC, PDP, Labour Party and other formations, that we know has failed Nigerians,” he said.

Sowore further said the AAC’s opposition extended beyond President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC, to what he described as the wider political system and governance practices that had contributed to Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges.

“Our opposition is not merely to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu or the evil All Progressives Congress party. It is to the political system and governing practices that have produced decades of poverty, corruption, inequality, insecurity and underdevelopment,” he stated.

He said the AAC would instead pursue what he described as a revolutionary break from the existing political order, anchored on social and economic justice, equal rights, accountable government and the redistribution of political and economic power.

“We will not abandon that program for an arrangement whose principal objective is simply to replace one set of establishment politicians with another,” Sowore added.

His rejection comes as the MCE Political Commission, chaired by Utomi, begins consultations with opposition presidential candidates and party leaders ahead of its planned tactical session in Ibadan.

The commission is seeking to facilitate an agreement among opposition forces on a single presidential candidate for the 2027 election.

According to MCE Media Coordinator, James Ezema, the commission is expected to hold closed-door meetings with shortlisted candidates and their party leaders before the tactical session.

Those listed for consultation include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress; Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress; Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party; Seyi Makinde of the Allied Peoples Movement; Donald Duke of the Peoples Redemption Party; Sandy Onor of the Peoples Democratic Party; Peter Agada of the Young Progressive Party; and Sowore of the AAC.

MCE said the closed-door consultations were intended to allow participants to negotiate sensitive issues without external pressure or interference.

The commission said the process would not merely require candidates to withdraw from the race, but would involve the development of agreed rules for selecting and endorsing an eventual candidate.

It listed credibility, transparency, fairness, due process and a level playing field among the principles expected to guide the process.

MCE also said it would consider factors including national acceptability, competence, integrity, leadership profile, policy orientation, commitment to democratic institutions and capacity to unite diverse interests.

The proposed coalition, according to the movement, would also be expected to produce a common governance programme addressing insecurity, unemployment, poverty, economic hardship, electoral reforms, constitutional reform, education, healthcare, energy and the cost of governance.

However, the AAC candidate maintained that his party was pursuing a distinct political path.

“The AAC is different. We know what we stand for, and we know the Nigeria we are fighting to build.

“We are not part of these coalition talks, and we will not be joining them,” he declared.