I rejected Buhari’s invitation after he won election in 2015, says Sowore

Omoyele Sowore, a presidential candidate on the African Action Congress (AAC) platform, says he turned down President Muhammadu Buhari’s invitation to meet with him after he was elected in 2015.

Sowore spoke out over the weekend as a guest on 90MinutesAfrica’s presidential candidate interview discussion program.

In response to a query on how he and other Nigerians helped Buhari win the president in 2015, the activist stated that he and other Nigerians did not work for Buhari’s victory.

Sowore claims that he has never seen Buhari and that when he was elected president, he denied his request to meet him.

“Goodluck Jonathan mismanaged Nigeria so badly that Buhari became attractive to people who were looking for an alternative,” he said.

“Even when Buhari visited the United States after he won the election, he requested to see me but I declined. I have never met Buhari before and I don’t have any plans to meet him.”

Sowore believes that Nigerians must be part in the process of seeking change, since only then would the country be better for its residents.

“I understand that Nigerians are slow with taking in new ideas, but we have to be consistent and persistent in telling them about the need for this revolution. We can’t afford to sit down and expect things to work out themselves,” he said.

Omoyele announced his desire to run for president in 2023 in March.

A court of appeal in Abuja overturned a judgement that restricted his travel within the federal capital area in April (FCT).

In October 2019, federal high court judge Ijeoma Ojukwu granted Sowore bail, but with the condition that he not address any rally or public gathering and not leave the FCT.

Sowore was charged with seven counts of treasonable crime by the federal authorities in September of this year.

However, the case has been blocked due to the government’s unwillingness to pursue it.