BY AHMED AKANBI
Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has called on Nigerians to rise against a political system that allows a few powerful individuals to control the country’s wealth and resources.
Sowore said the country’s political power structure must collapse, arguing that ordinary Nigerians would continue to suffer as long as a small group of politicians and business leaders controlled the economy.
He made the call during a politics programme on national television, where he spoke about political domination and the growing gap between the rich and the poor.
Sowore traced the problem to the years after independence, accusing successive political and military leaders of using government resources to build personal wealth.
He said the discovery and exploitation of crude oil in the 1970s further strengthened the system, adding that much of the wealth held by influential Nigerians today came from that period.
“In the 70s, crude oil even made it worse off. Most of what we call the old money today in Nigeria was money made in the 70s,” he said.
Sowore also referred to the military era, citing the controversial cement armada as an example of how government opportunities benefited powerful individuals.
He said the situation had continued under successive governments, leaving ordinary Nigerians with little access to the country’s wealth.
Explaining the problem, Sowore compared Nigeria’s political and economic system to a three-storey building, with powerful politicians and wealthy interests at the top while the majority of citizens remained at the bottom.
He said the different levels were disconnected, making it difficult for the benefits of economic activities to reach ordinary people. “The hegemony you are talking about, the rentier and the medium, but all of them are not connected, that is the reason why there is no trickle down,” he said.
The activist also accused the political class of paying attention to citizens’ suffering only when protests or other forms of unrest threaten their interests.
He cited militancy, kidnapping and political thuggery, alleging that some individuals who gain influence through violence are later brought into the political establishment.
Sowore insisted that Nigerians should stop expecting those benefiting from the system to willingly give up their privileges. “What needs to happen is that we should stop deceiving ourselves, that hegemony has to collapse. It is not going to fizzle out by itself,” he said.
He urged Nigerians who feel excluded from the country’s political and economic system to organise and challenge the situation, saying change does not depend on money but on the determination of ordinary citizens to confront greed and inequality.
“Everywhere the hegemony has collapsed all over the world, people who have nothing to lose are usually the ones who make the hegemony collapse, and that is where I stand,” he said.