African Action Congress presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has disclosed that he demanded an apology from former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, following their confrontation at the Nigerian Bar Association’s Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt.
Sowore made the disclosure during an interview with Arise News on Tuesday while discussing the heated exchange that occurred during Monday’s political session of the NBA conference.
According to him, he expected Amaechi to apologise because, in his view, the former governor’s political career was made possible by the democratic system that Sowore had long campaigned to establish.
“That’s why I said to him after the event, I called him and said, you should have apologised to me, and he asked me to come over to his house to eat and drink a beer.
“And I said, no, I don’t want you to poison me, because I know you’re not happy. I don’t think he would do that. No, I mean, I’m just kidding.”
Sowore argued that his contribution to Nigeria’s democracy should not be judged solely by whether he had occupied an elective or government position.
He maintained that his years of activism and advocacy for democracy and good governance constituted a form of leadership experience and helped create the democratic environment in which politicians such as Amaechi could thrive.
“If I didn’t fight for democracy, Rotimi Amaechi would not be standing there yesterday if we were still under military rule.
“He would never have been a speaker of the House for eight years, governor for eight years, minister for eight years. That’s one of the guys who benefited from my extraordinary struggle for democracy,” he said.
The AAC candidate said leadership should be assessed by qualities such as vision, purpose and the ability to assemble people with the expertise needed to achieve results.
“When people are looking for leaders, they are not looking for an accountant alone, they’re looking for someone who understands a little bit of everything. And who can find everybody who can make things work. That’s what leadership is all about,” he said.
Sowore also rejected the view that presidential aspirants must have previously held government positions to qualify for national leadership.
He said his activism had provided him with a different kind of experience that had shaped his understanding of leadership and governance.
“That is why I’m saying that they owe me a lot for creating the avenue for them to become leaders. Even though they didn’t fight for what made them become leaders, I did,” he said.
The dispute between the two politicians began during the NBA conference on Monday, when Sowore questioned the records of former public office holders participating in the political discussion.
He criticised Amaechi’s performance as Rivers governor and his tenure as Minister of Transportation, particularly his contribution to transportation policy and the fuel subsidy debate.
“We have a former governor of Rivers state here, Amaechi, who built a rail line that went nowhere. If that rail line was working subsidy would have been working for Rivers people,” Sowore said at the conference.
Amaechi, the African Democratic Congress vice-presidential candidate, responded by highlighting projects executed during his time as governor, including roads and primary schools. He also cited the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna railway projects delivered while he served as Transportation Minister.
READ ALSO: 2027: Sowore, Obi, Amaechi Clash Over Nigeria’s Governance Record
He subsequently challenged lawyers from Rivers State at the event to take Sowore around the state to inspect projects completed under his administration.
The exchange became more heated after Amaechi told Sowore, “When politicians are talking, close your mouth.”
Despite the confrontation, Sowore said the incident had not altered his position that his democratic activism should be recognised as leadership experience.
He also reiterated his opposition to the removal of the petrol subsidy, saying he had consistently warned about the consequences of the policy before it was implemented.
“As a matter of fact, most of the ideas you are seeing that they are picking now, we started fighting for it. We have clearly articulated them. We told them, remove our subsidy, we’ll ruin the economy,” he said.
Sowore argued that the economic difficulties Nigerians faced following the subsidy removal supported his earlier warnings. He added that politicians who had presented themselves as more experienced had eventually adopted positions he said he had advocated for years.
He further criticised Amaechi by saying the former governor was not an “Excellency” because, in his assessment, he had not done anything excellent for Nigeria.
The remarks came amid the continued exchange of criticisms between Sowore and Amaechi following their clash at the NBA conference, which also featured discussions by politicians including Peter Obi and Adewole Adebayo on governance, insecurity, fuel subsidy and Nigeria’s political direction ahead of the 2027 elections.