Peter Obi has always been part of the old system - Sowore

The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Mr Omoyele Sowore, has said the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is not the change Nigerians need.

Obi not the real deal: Sowore, who is also the publisher of Sahara Reporters, said the former Anambra State Governor was part of the old system of politicians that had crippled the nation’s fortunes.

The AAC presidential candidate said this during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’, on Friday, September 2, 2022.

Although Sowore likened Obi's emergence to that of the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, in 1999, he argued that he doesn't feel threatened by the growing popularity of the Labour Party candidate.

Sowore's word: “Peter Obi is part of the old system that I’ve always fought against. I understand where he is coming from. This is 1999 repeating itself – Nigerians want change, some young people are genuinely interested in change to a different direction, and then they are presented with somebody who worked for the establishment; somebody who has been in the Peoples Democratic Party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, came back to the PDP, and now in the Labour Party. We can be emotional about it but that’s the truth.

“I don’t see Peter Obi as a threat. He’s not new to the rotten system. Somebody who was Anambra governor for eight years . He didn’t build any schools, he didn’t build any industry, he didn’t build a power station. He’s not my kind of progressive.”

Ready for the job: Sowore expressed belief that his 32-years experience in the struggle for democracy has prepared him for the nation's presidency in 2023.

He said, “I was the only candidate who participated in 2019 that did not stop campaigning or advocating. I engaged, immediately after that election, in a number of revolutionary activities that took me to jail, and I have been doing this for about 32 years now.”