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AAC Flag Bearer, Sowore Condemns Lopsided Sitting Arrangement Of Nigerian Presidential Candidates During Abuja Meeting, Confronts Former Head Of State, Abdulsalami

Peace
January 21, 2023

The protest started when Sowore noticed that there was preferential treatment in the sitting arrangement with seats reserved for the APC and PDP presidential candidates in the front row.
 

The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, on Friday protested against the lopsided sitting arrangement at the venue of the National Peace Committee meeting with presidential candidates in Abuja.

The meeting which was held at Transcorp Hilton Abuja was also attended by representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and some Civil Society Organisations.

Some of the presidential candidates at the event included; Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, his Vice Presidential Candidate, Kashim Shettima; Ifeanyi Okowa, Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Adewole Adebayo, Social Democratic Party (SDP) , Hamza Al-Mustapha, Action Alliance (AA) and others.

The protest started when Sowore noticed that there was preferential treatment in the sitting arrangement with seats reserved for the APC and PDP presidential candidates in the front row.

But other candidates including him were asked to sit at the back of the hall.

Sowore, who was not pleased with the bias, raised objection as he told the organisers to stop giving undue preference and treatment to some candidates.

He also demanded that presidential candidates be allowed to sit based on the alphabetical order of the political parties. He added that no party or candidate was bigger than the others and that they all had equal status and rights before the law.

He therefore expressed dissatisfaction for pushing other candidates including him to the back of the hall.

Sowore also confronted the Chairman of the National Peace Committee (NPC) and former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, when he (Abubakar) told him (Sowore) to reconcile with Al-Mustapha of the AA.

Sowore said "My disagreements are not personal. They came from the military era. I have political disagreement with anybody that was in the military in 1993; that annulled the election including you."

In his response Abdulsalami asked Sowore to forgive and forget everything that happened while they were in the military.

He said "I think you are talking about 20 years ago. I think by the time you become the President of this country, I think some of us will leave this country.

"Honestly let the bygones be bygones. What has happened has happened and we can't cry over the spilled milk.”

The meeting was also attended by Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, and the Sultan of Sokoto State, Muhammad Abubakar.

 


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