Pro-democracy activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has declared that no one will dare to cancel an election if he wins, vowing that such an action would mark the end of elections in Nigeria.
Sowore made this bold statement while addressing members of the Kay Hikers Club Nigeria at an event in Abuja, which SaharaReporters monitored on TikTok.
“You asked what if I win an election and they did not let me in. My brother, that I am alive, that I will win an election and somebody will cancel the election—this country will never witness another election again,” he said.
“It is either we win or we all lose. You will not cancel an election that I won and you will enjoy the election that you do not win. That one, I can promise you. I bet my life on this one “
Addressing the issue of whether to join the political establishment or not, Sowore warned that Nigerian rulers, despite their lack of intelligence, are adept at silencing dissenters and betrayers.
He said, “Let me tell you that the Nigerian leaders or rulers, or misleaders that we have today, they may not be smart but they are very prolific in one thing. If they know that you are going to betray them, they have seen you in advance. Before you betray them, they would have buried you. And those who have joined them can come and testify to it.
“We have a lot of friends who joined them in our university days, I don’t even know where they are now. There are some of them that just joined them recently. There is nothing they can do to change the system because inside there is a cemetery of human consciences.
“The first thing they will go for is your conscience. They will bury it. They know that the moment your conscience is gone, people will lose interest in you, there is nothing you can say again that will ever work.”
Sowore, who has been at the forefront of the fight for democratic rights in Nigeria since his university days, reiterated his refusal to align with the corrupt establishment.
“I have never joined them since I started my political life in the university, specifically in 1989. And I have no regrets. I am sure if I had joined them, I would not be standing before you today,” he said.
Criticising the mentality of young Nigerians in politics, Sowore lamented that many are more interested in becoming social media influencers and political aides rather than aspiring for leadership.
He said, “I think a lot of young people in Nigeria are not aspiring to become leaders, they are aspiring to become influencers and special assistants. They are the kind of people that ask me, ‘Sowore why don’t you be local government chairman, why don’t you go and become Senator, why don’t you go and become the governor of your state?’
“The problem I want to solve is not a state-based problem. It is a national problem. The problem I want to solve in Nigeria is not a local government problem. If you find me qualified to be governor of a state, then you should be able to understand my ambition to rule a Nigeria that is just 36 states. The President of Nigeria is just a governor of the 36 states.”
Explaining why he is not contesting for a smaller political office, Sowore argued that the system is rigged to crush progressive leaders at every level of governance.
“If I become a governor of Ondo State and I am doing so well, all he (the President) needs to do is to introduce a ‘Wike’ into Ondo State, who will come and get a Supreme Court judgment against me and I will not be getting state allocation. That is the end,” he said.
“If I go to the Senate, all they need to do is to find somebody who will sexually harass me, and then they will suspend me from the Senate.”
Sowore has remained one of the most vocal critics of the Nigerian political system, consistently advocating for radical reforms and citizen-led governance.
The June 12, 1993, presidential election in Nigeria is widely regarded as one of the freest and fairest elections in the country’s history.
The election was won by Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, a businessman and philanthropist, who ran under the Social Democratic Party (SDP). However, the election was annulled by the then-military regime led by General Ibrahim Babangida, citing alleged electoral irregularities. This decision led to widespread protests and political unrest across Nigeria.
The annulment led to the eventual rise of pro-democracy movements and increased pressure on the military regime to transition to civilian rule. In 1999, Nigeria returned to democratic governance with the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
