The African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate and human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, has hit back at the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ajibola Basiru, after the senator mocked his political status by calling him a “skit maker” and “comedian”.
Sowore, in a statement posted on X, recalled his longstanding relationship with Basiru, saying they fought against military dictatorship together in the 1990s.
He also accused the APC chieftain of abandoning the democratic ideals they once defended because of the privileges of his current political position.
The exchange followed Basiru’s appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, where he described Sowore as a skit maker.
Responding, Sowore shared a photograph of himself with Basiru taken in 1998, when he led the Congress of Progressive Youths (COPY), a pro-democracy group.
“I watched an interview on Politics Today on Channels Television, anchored by Seun Okinbaloye, in which the APC National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, called me a ‘skit maker’ and ‘comedian’,” he wrote.
Sowore said he received Basiru at the University of Lagos after the latter was expelled from the University of Ilorin in 1992 over student activism.
He said he and other activists, including Kunle Adegoke, popularly known as K-Rad, helped Basiru secure an opportunity to return to the university and study law.
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“Both eventually graduated with flying colours and went on to accomplish great things,” Sowore said, adding that their shared history made Basiru’s remarks particularly disappointing.
He argued that the struggle for democracy and human dignity should not be dismissed as entertainment, insisting that his activism remained consistent with the ideals they defended during military rule.
“The struggle for justice, democracy, freedom and the preservation of human dignity is neither skit-making nor comedy,” he said.
Sowore also faulted Basiru’s argument that opposition candidates should be ashamed of losing to President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election, which he described as deeply flawed.
He maintained that political appointments were temporary and predicted that Tinubu’s administration, like previous military regimes, would eventually leave office.
“Political appointments are temporary. Tinubu’s regime will come and go, just like the military regimes we confronted in our youth,” he said.
Sowore concluded by accusing Basiru of turning against the ideals he once championed.
“What is truly comical is watching yesterday’s beneficiaries of resistance become today’s defenders of the very oppression they once fought against,” he wrote.
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