My Democracy Struggle Helped Amaechi Rise To Power-Sowore

Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has claimed that his years of activism and struggle for democracy helped create the political environment that enabled former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, to rise to prominence.

Sowore made the assertion while reflecting on his heated exchange with Amaechi at the Nigerian Bar Association’s Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt on Monday.

Speaking during an interview with Arise News Prime Time on Tuesday night, Sowore said he contacted Amaechi after their heated confrontation and asked him to apologise, but the former governor instead invited him to his residence for a drink.

“That’s why I said to him after the event, I called him and said, you should have apologised to me, and he asked me to come over to his house to eat and drink a beer.

“And I said, no, I don’t want you to poison me, because I know you’re not happy. I don’t think he would do that. No, I mean, I’m just kidding,” he said.

Sowore argued that his political experience should not be judged solely by whether he had previously held public office, stressing that his years of activism represented another form of leadership experience.

“If I didn’t fight for democracy, Rotimi Amaechi would not be standing there yesterday if we were still under military rule.

“He would never have been a speaker of the House for eight years, governor for eight years, minister for eight years. That’s one of the guys who benefited from my extraordinary struggle for democracy,” Sowore said.

According to the AAC candidate, his experience was shaped by his long-standing commitment to democracy and good governance, adding that effective leadership requires vision, purpose and the ability to bring people together to achieve results.

“When people are looking for leaders, they are not looking for an accountant alone, they’re looking for someone who understands a little bit of everything. And who can find everybody who can make things work. That’s what leadership is all about,” he said.

At the NBA conference, Sowore had challenged the records of several politicians, particularly criticising Amaechi’s performance as Rivers governor and his tenure as Minister of Transportation.

He also questioned Amaechi’s contribution to Nigeria’s transportation sector, using railway projects executed during his tenure to assess their impact.

“We have a former governor of Rivers State here, Amaechi, who built a rail line that went nowhere. If that rail line was working subsidy would have been working for Rivers people,” Sowore said.

Amaechi, who is the vice-presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), defended his record, citing the roads and primary schools constructed during his tenure as governor, as well as the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna railway projects delivered while he was transportation minister.

The disagreement later became heated, with Amaechi telling Sowore, “When politicians are talking, close your mouth.”

Sowore, however, maintained that the confrontation had not changed his position on the removal of fuel subsidy, insisting that he had warned against the policy before it was implemented by the federal government.

“As a matter of fact, most of the ideas you are seeing that they are picking now, we started fighting for it. We have clearly articulated them. We told them, remove our subsidy, we’ll ruin the economy,” he said.

He also criticised Amaechi’s use of the title “Excellency,” arguing that the former governor had not, in his assessment, done anything excellent for Nigeria.

The exchange between Sowore and Amaechi was one of several political debates at the NBA conference, where political figures, including Peter Obi and Adewole Adebayo, discussed governance, insecurity, fuel subsidy and Nigeria’s political direction ahead of the 2027 general elections.