Eric Patrick
Human rights activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore has claimed that all opposition parties in Nigeria except his party (AAC) are influenced or controlled by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
During an appearance on Rubbin’ Minds, a Channels Television talk show aired on Sunday, Sowore alleged that many opposition parties in the country were either created or co-opted by the APC to serve as “special-purpose vehicles” for political maneuvering.
Sowore, who founded the AAC in 2018, asserted that his party remains the only authentic opposition among Nigeria’s 18 officially registered political parties.
Sowore said, ”What we found out in our little research is that most of the parties that are left, apart from AAC, are parties that were created by the major parties.
“They call them feeder parties or special-purpose vehicles.”
In the interview, Sowore went on to claim that these smaller parties are often funded during election seasons by the APC to serve strategic interests, such as filing legal challenges that can be manipulated later in the ruling party’s favour.
“Sometimes, some of the candidates or the parties are meant to help them with a legal challenge.
“So they all go and challenge the election, and whomever has won would approach either the opposition party or the smaller parties and settle them.
“Everybody gets paid and walks away.”
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He noted that many of the opposition parties fail to act like opposition and appear ideologically aligned with the APC.
“The people that oppose us the most when we go to meetings are these other smaller parties that you think are in the opposition.
”That’s why I refer to the Labour Party as a short rental.
“Most of them that went to Labour Party saw an opportunity.
“They were coming from either the PDP or the APC.
“They walked in there, grabbed power, and then the moment they had the booty bag, they went back to where they’re coming from.”