Published 1st Oct, 2024

By Daniel Ojukwu

Omoyele Sowore, the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), has said the government was hypocritical for telling Nigerians to shelve their grievances and wait until the next election cycle in 2027.

Sowore said this on Tuesday when responding to FIJ’s questions about government overthrow claims made about protests in the country. Sowore is one of the leaders of the #FearlessInOctober protest which kicked off on Tuesday in Ikeja, Lagos State.

Following the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protest held from August 1 to 10, the federal government told Nigerians who were not pleased with the current administration to wait until the 2027 presidential election before expressing themselves.

The federal government also claimed that the protesters were attempting to overthrow the Bola Tinubu government, with some of the protesters arrested and accused of treason and other similar crimes.

FIJ’s Daniel Ojukwu had asked Sowore to share his thoughts on the government’s suggestion that people should wait until the next election.

In response, Sowore said, “When the APC wanted to come to power — there was a government in place — they started protesting in 2012. The election was in 2015. Did they wait for 2015 before they started Occupy Nigeria? That is my answer, they are just a bunch of hypocrites.”

Meanwhile, the protesters, including Sowore, started moving towards the Ojota area of Lagos, which is their next destination.

Armed policemen and officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) led the way as the protesters marched.

FIJ saw the protesters chanting, ‘Tinubu, Ole’; ‘Akpabio, Ole’; ‘Oju ole ree‘. They also sang, ‘Tinubu na goat o, omo eran‘ and ‘Daddy, Mummy a see ole le dibo fun‘ which means ‘Daddy, Mummy so you actually voted for a thief!’