Omoyele Sowore, the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), has criticized members of the opposition ADC Coalition comprising several veteran politicians accusing them of refusing to step aside from politics because they failed to build a country fit for retirement.
Speaking in a recent interview with Trust TV, he argued that many of the political elites from previous administrations are still clinging to relevance not out of purpose, but necessity. "These guys, you can look at it and say maybe They are ambitious, it's not an ambition, it's a lack of faith and desperation that if they don’t do what they’re doing now—they will have nothing to live on," Sowore said. "Because most of them made money, but they lived extravagant lives."
He pointed to their inability to build a stable nation with economic security and social comfort as the reason they remain politically active long after their prime. "They bought houses Let me give you an example: There was a time David Mark lost 6 million Pounds in a divorce proceeding in the UK to his wife, Victoria," Sowore revealed. "So imagine that if he has 6 million Pounds in his account, maybe he’ll probably want to settle back and just enjoy life because this is no life."
He described their current reality as exhausting and aimless, noting that many of them attend political meetings not out of relevance, but routine and sometimes even sleep through them. "Every day you have to go to meetings. Most of the time, they go to these meetings... they fall asleep. They can barely discuss much anyway. But they just keep hustling. They are actually the real hustlers."
Sowore said what is often described as youthful hustle in Nigeria is, in fact, more applicable to these aging political figures who never planned a future outside of public office.
He further explained that unlike societies where people retire early to enjoy life, these Nigerian political veterans built a system that offers no such comfort. "They didn’t create a country they could retire in," Sowore remarked. "There’s nothing."
According to him, their ongoing presence in politics is not driven by vision or legacy, but survival—because the very country they shaped does not permit them the dignity of retirement.