African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has launched a scathing attack over the use of former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, in an advertisement by an Indian hospital following his reported knee replacement surgery in India.
Sowore made the remarks in a post on his X account on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, while reacting to an image of the former military leader reportedly being used in promotional material by the Indian hospital.
The AAC presidential candidate questioned why former Nigerian leaders who had the opportunity to influence the country’s healthcare system while in office would seek medical treatment abroad, arguing that the situation exposed what he described as decades of neglect of Nigeria’s healthcare sector.
“These so-called ‘experienced leaders’ had every opportunity while in power to build first-class healthcare facilities in Nigeria,” Sowore wrote.
He argued that such leaders were now travelling abroad in old age for the same medical services he said they failed to make adequately available to Nigerians at home.
“Yet, in old age, they travel abroad for the very medical care they failed to make adequately available at home and can even end up as advertisements for foreign hospitals,” he said.
Sowore then turned his criticism to President Bola Tinubu, suggesting that a foreign hospital could similarly use a Nigerian president in its advertising in the future.
“At this rate, perhaps one day a hospital in France will be using a Nigerian president, Tinubu for its adverts,” he wrote.
The AAC candidate described the reported development as “a tragic indictment of decades of failed leadership and neglect of Nigeria’s healthcare system.”
Sowore’s comments come as he resumes his campaign for the 2027 presidential election. INEC’s final list of presidential candidates for the January 2027 election includes Sowore as the AAC candidate.
