“Unless a revolution happens in this country same way they had in Sudan or probably Algeria, it’s going to be difficult to have free and fair elections. And I’m saying it so that we are not under any illusion that somehow if we continue to talk — it is not a battle of wits — that the democratic space will open up for us to have a country where good people, great ideas can lead the country."
Omoyele Sowore, human rights activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 general election, has said that it is impossible to have free and fair elections in the country unless a revolution happens.
He made the revelation while sharing his experience at the polls on Arise News TV's 'The Morning Show'.
Explaining the urgency of the situation at hand, Sowore said: “Nigerians must understand that unless something drastic happens, we cannot have elections that are won on the basis of ideas.
“They have destroyed the basis for any progressive politics. You cannot have a country where young people who are brilliant, who have ideas, are told to run for councillor while people with antiquated ideas are recommended to be presidential candidates; that’s why the country is the way it is.
“Unless a revolution happens in this country same way they had in Sudan or probably Algeria, it’s going to be difficult to have free and fair elections. And I’m saying it so that we are not under any illusion that somehow if we continue to talk — it is not a battle of wits — that the democratic space will open up for us to have a country where good people, great ideas can lead the country."
When asked if he would have won the election if the younger candidates had come together to present one candidate, he said: “No. Look we had a formidable force but we didn’t have an electoral process which could help those forces to become something. The voting that took place at polling is not what was reported at the collation centres."
Sowore said he was not challenging the results of the election in court because “we do not have the capacity to go back to their own court rooms run by their own people and expect that you will get justice".
"They own the courts, they own the judges and that’s why I said earlier that something will give in in this country," he added.