By Divine Sam

Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), has responded to the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, after he described him as a “skit maker” and “comedian”.

Sowore, in a statement posted on X, recalled his longstanding relationship with Basiru, accusing the senator of abandoning the democratic principles they once defended together during the struggle against military rule in the 1990s.

The exchange followed Basiru’s appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, where he referred to Sowore as a skit maker.

Reacting, Sowore shared a photograph of himself with Basiru taken in 1998, when he was leading the Congress of Progressive Youths (COPY), a pro-democracy organisation.

“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 recalled that he received Basiru at the University of Lagos after the latter was expelled from the University of Ilorin in 1992 over his involvement in student activism.

He claimed that he and other activists, including Kunle Adegoke, popularly known as K-Rad, helped Basiru secure an opportunity to return to university and study law.

“Both eventually graduated with flying colours and went on to accomplish great things,” Sowore said, describing Basiru’s recent comments as particularly disappointing in view of their shared history.

The AAC candidate maintained that the struggle for democracy, justice and human dignity should not be trivialised as entertainment, insisting that his activism remained rooted in the principles they fought for 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 criticised 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 argued that political appointments were temporary and expressed the view that the current administration would eventually leave office, just as previous military governments had ended.

“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 his response by accusing Basiru of abandoning the ideals they once shared in the pro-democracy movement.

“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.