Omoyele Sowore, two-time presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), recently claimed in an interview that initiatives such as the Student Loan program and the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project initiated by President Bola Tinubu’s administration were originally his ideas. Sowore expressed frustration that his proposed ideas were adopted by the political class, transforming them from his original vision of grants for students into loans, and altering his proposal for a coastal highway to suit private interests like the Eko Atlantic project and the Dangote Refinery.
He emphasized that the appropriation of his ideas by the ruling class reflects a broader issue of neglecting candidates with innovative ideas in favor of perpetuating the ruling elite who lack effective governance strategies. Sowore indicated a lack of interest in collaborating with Tinubu’s administration, asserting that their ideological differences and incapacity to embrace new ideas preclude any potential partnership to salvage Nigeria’s economic challenges.