Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), has taken a swipe at the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ajibola Basiru, claiming he helped him secure admission to the University of Lagos (UNILAG) after his expulsion from the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN).
Sowore made the claim in a response on X on Thursday, following Basiru’s description of him as a skit maker and comedian during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.
To support his account, the activist shared a photograph of himself with Basiru taken in 1998, when he led the Congress of Progressive Youths (COPY) in the campaign against military rule.
Sowore alleged that Basiru was expelled from UNILORIN in 1992 over his involvement in student activism before subsequently seeking admission to UNILAG.
“I received him alongside Kunle Adegoke, popularly known as K-Rad, who is now a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. We provided them with an enabling environment to apply to re-enter the university, gain admission, and study Law at the University of Lagos,” Sowore said.
He added that both men eventually graduated with flying colours.
The AAC candidate also criticised Basiru’s argument that opposition figures who contested against President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election should be ashamed of their defeat because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu the winner.
Sowore maintained that the pursuit of justice, democracy and freedom should not be dismissed as entertainment.
“The struggle for justice, democracy, freedom and the preservation of human dignity is neither skit-making nor comedy. Ajibola knows this because he was once part of that struggle and benefited from the solidarity of those who refused to surrender to military tyranny,” he said.
The activist further argued that political appointments were temporary, predicting that Tinubu’s administration would eventually end, just as the military governments they opposed during their youth had come to an end.
“What is truly comical is watching yesterday’s beneficiaries of resistance become today’s defenders of the very oppression they once fought against,” he added.
