In a searing critique of Nigeria’s political landscape, activist and presidential hopeful Omoyele Sowore has condemned the National Assembly as a self-serving institution and dismissed the country’s major opposition parties as nothing more than puppets in a rigged democratic performance.
Appearing on Channels TV’s Rubbin’ Minds, the African Action Congress (AAC) leader did not mince words.
“The National Assembly doesn’t perform checks and balances—they only balance their own interests,” Sowore said. “It’s become a safe space for loyalty, not accountability.”
His comments followed President Bola Tinubu’s Democracy Day address, which was controversially held at the National Assembly.
Sowore derided the setting and the accompanying chants of “On your mandate we shall stand,” saying the display reflected the legislature’s subservience to executive power.
But his sharpest rebuke was reserved for Nigeria’s so-called opposition parties.
“Most of these parties are not real,” he said. “They’re feeder parties—created by the same political elites to give Nigerians a false sense of choice.”
Sowore accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) of operating as part of a grand deception orchestrated by Nigeria’s power brokers. According to him, they function less as ideological opponents and more as instruments of political convenience.
“The Labour Party is the worst,” he said. “People jumped in from PDP and APC, grabbed the ticket, and once they got what they wanted, they jumped back out. It’s a short-term rental.”
He added that in meetings with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), these so-called opposition parties consistently side with government interests.
“There’s no pushback. There’s no debate. There’s no ideology,” Sowore said. “It’s all ‘yes sir, yes sir.’ They say one thing in public and another in those rooms.”
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Sowore claims he continues to pay the price for his activism.
“I was beaten on the streets of Akure four days ago,” he said. “I’ve been jailed, my passport is still seized—this is the cost of being real in Nigeria.”
He reiterated that he would reject any national honors from President Tinubu or his administration, describing such recognition as hollow from a government that “robbed Nigerians of their dignity.”8
In a closing challenge to Nigerian citizens, Sowore urged people to stop waiting for heroes and start demanding systemic change.
“There’s no messiah coming,” he warned. “If we don’t fight for our future, no one else will.”
Sowore’s remarks underscore the deepening crisis of legitimacy in Nigeria’s political system—a system he argues is built on illusion, not representation. Whether his voice sparks a wider movement or remains on the margins may depend less on politicians—and more on whether Nigerians are finally ready to disrupt the game.