The African Action Congress (AAC) has announced it will field its own presidential candidate in the 2027 general elections, rejecting the opposition coalition summit held in Ibadan, Oyo State. Human rights activist and AAC presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Omoyele Sowore, stated that his party will not participate in what he described as an attempt to recycle Nigeria's old political elite.
The Ibadan summit, hosted by Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde on Saturday, brought together key opposition figures including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party's 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi, and former Kano State governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. The meeting concluded with a resolution to field a single presidential candidate in 2027 to challenge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and avoid vote fragmentation among opposition parties.
Sowore, however, said he declined an invitation to attend the gathering, arguing that many of the participants have held power in different capacities over the years without delivering meaningful change to Nigerians. He maintained that the AAC would not be part of any coalition involving established political parties such as the APC, PDP, Labour Party, and the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which were represented at the Ibadan meeting.
According to him, the AAC will instead present its own presidential candidate for the 2027 election, with a focus on building a “genuine alternative” rooted in accountability, transparency, and people-driven governance. He said: “I was invited to attend the so-called 'Opposition Summit' in Ibadan, but I declined. There is no need to pretend that the same men (and a few women) who held Nigeria to ransom for years, presiding over stagnation, corruption, and systemic decay, can suddenly reinvent themselves as champions of progress or defenders of the people. Not all Nigerians are suffering from amnesia. For the avoidance of doubt, our revolutionary party, the African Action Congress, will not be part of any charade designed to recycle failed political actors under the guise of 'opposition.' Instead, we are committed to presenting a formidable, people-driven alternative, one rooted in integrity, accountability, and genuine transformation. We will mobilize Nigerians across the country to rally behind a credible vision that rejects the decadence and deception represented by both the APC and their opportunistic counterparts in ADC, PDP, Labour Party and elsewhere. Nigeria does not need a rearrangement of the same broken pieces, it needs a complete break from the past.”
