The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore has accused the media of presenting poor candidates with no ideas as front-liners.
He said those who Nigerian media are promoting as front-liners are those with no clear ideas and who are unable to explicitly present their plans for the country.
He spoke on a Channels Television programme, Politics Today.
Sowore said, “In my course of doing media recently…the little media attention we got, I found some very fantastic presidential candidates who have better ideas than the people you (the media) keep pushing in front of the public.
“The media needs to stop doing that; you need to put people who have great ideas of how to make the country work in front of the people. Let them keep repeating these ideas until everybody is hearing them, and not people who don’t talk or when they talk, you can’t even hear them, or are not audible enough or not clear enough, and you say they’re front liners. How can they be front liners when they don’t have frontline ideas?”
He said that if he eventually gets elected next year, Nigerians will beg him to stay beyond the constitutional limit of two terms in office.
He said his ideas for a great country would make Nigerians ask for more.
Speaking on the naira redesign, Sowore said the funds used for redesigning the naira should have been channeled to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The AAC presidential candidate said if elected president, he will not concentrate on redesigning the naira, but seek ways to improve the value of the country’s currency.
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On his educational policy, Sowore said if elected president, he will give every student in tertiary institutions a grant of N100,000 per semester.
“I will never be part of those who ask the private sector to run education in Nigeria. It will be publicly run education programme. We are focusing on free education,” he said.
“I have said it; every student in Nigeria who is in the higher institution there are 1.7 million students in higher institutions. They will get at least N100,000 per semester as study grant from the federal government. I mean it. I will not make them take loans.
When asked where he would generate such funds to pay the over 1.7 million Nigerian undergraduates, the AAC candidate said his administration will plunge the loopholes in government and channel such into key priority areas like education.
“We don’t need to borrow in my first four years. I have discovered how we can block all the loopholes and make more money.
“I just told you about N11 trillion unremitted revenue. It is sitting in the bank accounts of our MDAs. We can get it. It belongs to the federal government. N11 trillion is a huge amount of money; money owed by oil companies.
“I’m talking to you as a citizen of Nigeria who has operated alone almost virtually, finding money, kicking out sources where money has been hidden, helping to provide evidence for stolen money, and ensuring that some money that was taken outside offshore corruption. I have been the person who covered it the most since 2006 through Sahara Reporters.
“So,when I’m telling you these facts, I know the politicians. I know how they steal, I know how the money in this country is being filtered. I’m not just saying it to lie to you on TV, it’s a matter of fact.
“If we get to work, you will be shocked. Nigerians will be begging me to continue in government after my two terms when I do the job that I’m telling you. But, I don’t want to do more than two terms, I’m not interested,” he added
He argued that what’s facing Nigeria is not about corruption but the cost of governance.
“There’s a lot of low-hanging fruits and a lot can be done without making governance look like rocket science.
“I’m not going to repeat a Minister or have a Minister of state. I will work towards elimination of the likes of useless two arms of National Assembly doing nothing. There are more Senators in Nigeria with N21trillion budget. What are we doing with them? We’ll get rid of them. I will collapse National Assembly into one arm,” he said
Speaking further, the Ondo born political activist challenged his counterparts in other parties to a debate to discuss ideas to move Nigeria forward.
Specifically, he challenged Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi; Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“Bring me and Obi to discuss our ideas on your show, I guarantee that he would not come,” Sowore stated.
“I know the other two people will not show up Tinubu and Atiku dare not show up. They should be afraid because anybody who has got no idea should be afraid.
Asked whether he is angry with Obi who’s enjoying the support of youths in the country, Sowore said, “Was I angry about Peter Obi in 1992, 1993 when I fought the military? Peter Obi was not even known.
“Any campaign that is childish and that doesn’t address the issues is relevant but not important.”
Sowore also said the media should push people with ideas, alleging that some candidates were being pushed by the media in the name of “front liners.”