THE presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has discovered that the only way to stop the back and forth electoral crisis that has so far claimed not less than 40 lives in Osun State is for the voters to reject the two political parties engaged in supremacy battles for the soul of the state.

 

He recalled how Lagos State electorate helped to curb the excesses of overzealous and desperate political overlords within the SDP in 1992, stressing that when supporters of Dr Femi Agbalajobi and Chief Dapo Sarumi refused to allow reason to prevail, voters settled for the National Republican Congress (NRC), Chief Michael Otedola.

 

The SDP presidential hopeful asserted that what is currently happening in the lead-up to next Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State “looks to me like it’s more about the (President Bola) Tinubu family and Adeleke family dynasty in Osun and these two families are close to each other. They act the same way.

 

“So, it is better for Osun people to choose a third party and vote for. And people should know that it is becoming very clear that it has become a dynastic war and they don’t want to play by the rules.”

 

Regretting that there is still enough appetite for violence in Nigeria’s election despite all the lessons that ought to have been learned, Adebayo wondered how some people should still desperate for power.

 

He maintained that the lesson to learn from Osun governorship election is that we are not ready for free, fair and credible election, stressing that with the body count at over 40, killings on all sides is painful.

 

“It is also painful that Nigerian voters still have sympathy for these desperadoes. Because the authentic thing to do in Osun State is to vote the incumbent out and have a fresh start. Go for a party like SDP that has no history of violent dealing and vote for them.

 

“And the two godfathers will lose. The Abuja group will cry, the Ede group will cry, and the people will move on. That’s how we used to resolve this in the past. Remember in Lagos, Agbalajobi and Sarumi, the people said, we’ll show you both sides that you don’t own the land. We voted for Otedola, that’s how we should teach them a lesson,” he stated.

 

Adebayo, who spoke to TheGuardian in an exclusive interview in Abuja, stated that the inability of today’s voters to replicate similar wisdom as the Lagos electorate displayed in the short-lived third republic was that the political class has not shown them leadership.

 

He condemned the recourse to vote-buying and intimidation that have defined electoral competition, saying that some of the political gladiators of the current dispensation lasck proper grooming and sense of patriotism.

 

While narrating how he joined the SDP as an undergraduate of Ife University, Adebayo maintained that political indiscipline starts from baseless defection, reiterating that after joining SDP at age 19, he has known no other political party.

 

On how political parties should school voters and supporters on the real ideals of democracy, the SDP standard bearer stated: “We’ve not explained to them in detail how ideologies should be the basis of choice. Almost all the political parties, politicians talk the same way. So, you cannot make a distinction if you know the difference.

 

“So, if they’re asked to choose between six and half a dozen. They’re kind of doing the algorithm in their head, doing calculations, six, half a dozen, what’s the difference? So that’s the problem that they have.

 

“But, if you asked them to choose between six and nine or six and seven, they will know, okay, one is different. This one, three is different. Or if you say, choose between half a dozen and nine. They’ll say, okay, half a dozen is six. Nine is three points above six. They will choose and that’s what we want to show them now, contrasted in black and white.”

 

Describing his SDP as ideologically pure political party, Adebayo said he is leading the party on a nationwide membership recruitment to ensure that the party’s message of bye-bye to poverty resonates with new political leaders that are not tainted by the corruption of other platforms.