Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), has strongly criticised All Progressives Congress (APC) National Secretary Ajibola Basiru after the latter described him as a “skit maker and comedian.”
The exchange stems from Basiru’s appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday. In a response posted on X on Thursday, Sowore claimed he personally assisted Basiru in gaining admission to the University of Lagos (UNILAG) after Basiru was expelled from the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) in 1992 for student activism.
Sowore shared a 1998 photograph of himself with Basiru taken during the period he led the Congress of Progressive Youths (COPY) in the pro-democracy struggle against military rule. He said Basiru arrived at UNILAG seeking a fresh start, and that he, together with Kunle Adegoke (popularly known as K-Rad, now a Senior Advocate of Nigeria), helped create the conditions for Basiru to reapply, gain admission, and study Law.
“We provided them with an enabling environment to apply to re-enter the university, gain admission, and study Law at the University of Lagos,” Sowore stated. He added that both men eventually graduated with flying colours.
Sowore also rejected Basiru’s suggestion that candidates who lost the 2023 presidential election should feel ashamed because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Tinubu the winner. He insisted that the fight for justice, democracy, and human dignity is neither comedy nor entertainment.
“The struggle for justice, democracy, freedom and the preservation of human dignity is neither skit-making nor comedy. Ajibola knows this because he was once part of that struggle and benefited from the solidarity of those who refused to surrender to military tyranny,” Sowore said.
He further argued that political appointments are temporary and that the current administration, like the military regimes they once opposed, will eventually pass. “What is truly comical is watching yesterday’s beneficiaries of resistance become today’s defenders of the very oppression they once fought against,” he added.