The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has declared that Nigerians cannot genuinely celebrate the country’s 66th Independence Anniversary while millions remain trapped in severe poverty, hunger, unemployment, and worsening insecurity.
In a press statement issued on Thursday, October 1, 2026, in Abuja, Sowore asserted that the core promises of national independence; freedom, dignity, prosperity, justice, and equality, remain unfulfilled for the vast majority of citizens.
”We cannot celebrate independence while our people are trapped in poverty, hunger, unemployment, insecurity, darkness, and hopelessness,” Sowore stated.
He noted that independence must mean far more than the symbolic act of replacing colonial rule, arguing that the nation has instead been handed over to internal oppressors.
Speaking through the National Publicity Secretary of the AAC, Onyinyechi Onyeka, who released the official anniversary message to newsmen at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, the leadership reiterated that citizens deserve more than ceremonial speeches and unfulfilled government promises.
The statement called for genuine liberation from “internal colonizers enmeshed in monumental corruption, oppression, poverty, injustice, ethnic manipulation, and religious bigotry”.
Sowore demanded structural reforms, including living wages for Nigerian workers and full public access to basic social amenities such as quality education, healthcare, and stable electricity.
Sowore concluded the statement by urging Nigerians to unite and reclaim the nation’s destiny, emphasising that the historical duty of the present generation is to build a country that truly serves all its people rather than a privileged ruling class.
