African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has said that neither he nor his party is part of the ongoing talks led by Prof. Pat Utomi to produce a single opposition candidate for the 2027 presidential election.
Sowore made the clarification in a public statement after a report by The Punch said that Utomi’s Political Commission planned to hold discussions with several opposition presidential candidates, including him.
The report said that the Movement for Credible Elections (MCE), led by Utomi, has confirmed plans to meet selected opposition candidates and their party leaders as part of efforts to work towards a single presidential candidate, and that the AAC is among the parties listed for the proposed engagements.
However, Sowore said the AAC would not take part in the talks.
“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,” he said.
He said the AAC had a different political and ideological position and would not abandon what he described as its “revolutionary agenda” for political negotiations.
“Our revolutionary agenda is driven by ideological clarity, not political convenience, elite horse-trading or desperation for access to power,” Sowore stated.
He also said the party could not enter into 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 said the AAC’s opposition goes beyond President Bola Tinubu and the APC, arguing that the party is opposed to what he described as the wider political system and governing practices responsible for Nigeria’s challenges.
He said the AAC was offering Nigerians “a different path” based on social and economic justice, equal rights, accountable government and greater political and economic power for citizens.
“We will not abandon that program for an arrangement whose principal objective is simply to replace one set of establishment politicians with another,” he said.
Sowore concluded that the AAC would remain outside the coalition discussions.
“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.”
