The Director of News at Arise Television, Sumner Sambo, has called on opposition leaders to actively participate in the ongoing protests against the amendment of the Electoral Act, warning that the movement should not be reduced to the effort of a single individual.
Sambo made the remarks during an interview on Arise TV’s Prime Time, following the “Occupy National Assembly” protest staged against the Senate’s rejection of electronic transmission of election results.
He referenced the participation of former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who joined the protest on Monday.
According to Sambo, the protest mirrors events that occurred ahead of the 2015 general elections, when opposition figures such as Muhammadu Buhari and Nasir El-Rufai led nationwide demonstrations against the then-ruling party.
“If you look at what they are doing, it’s akin to what happened prior to 2014 and close to 2015, when you had the likes of Buhari, El-Rufai and others on the back of vehicles going around to protest against the PDP,” he said.
Sambo added that if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu were currently in opposition, he would likely have joined the protest.
“I’m very sure that if President Tinubu was in the opposition now, he would have joined the team. So whatever they did today is actually what’s expected of them,” he said.
He criticised the limited presence of opposition leaders at the protest, insisting that the movement should not be seen as belonging to Peter Obi alone.
“I expected more opposition leaders to come out. They should not just make it a Peter Obi thing. Where was Atiku? Are they really serious about this, or are they just mouthing it because citizens want it?” Sambo asked.
He urged opposition parties to wake up and do more, stressing that sustained pressure is necessary to hold the government accountable.
“When these people who are in government now were in opposition, the government at the time would not have been sleeping fine. The opposition must rise to its responsibility,” he added.