Adebayo emerges SDP presidential candidate, vows to defeat Atiku, Tinubu

Prince Adewole Adebayo, on Wednesday night, emerged as the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Adebayo, who scored 1526 votes, emerged as the SDP standard-bearer after defeating Khadijah Okunnu-Lamidi who polled 83 votes.

According to Chairman, the Electoral Committee, Dr Umar Abdullahi, a total of 1769 delegates from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), were accredited for the election.

In his acceptance speech, Adebayo vowed to defeat the candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar.

According to him, Nigeria is not a difficult country to govern but “we are the problem of Nigeria. If we change our mind, change our destiny, our direction, behaviour, I will give an idea a new life a new opportunity”.

In his remarks, the National Chairman of the party, Shehu Musa Gabam, said that Nigeria would get it right this time around with good leadership.

Gabam stressed that sadly, the two parties which had succeeded the military have left Nigerians with so much to desire from their leaders.

He noted that it was highly lamentable that “our country today has been plagued by challenges of corruption, unmitigated lawlessness, gross impunity, spiralling indiscipline, brazen and outrageous security challenges that has left Nigeria paradoxically poor in the midst of God-given abundance for our collective progress and prosperity.”

He said: “Nigerians are tired of unending insecurity problems, tired of poverty and want, tired of daily threats to Nigeria’s corporate existence, tired of non-inclusive governance, tired of policies that exaggerate our differences, tired of the daily emigration of our best brains and our youth to better climes.

“Nigerians are tired of clueless leadership and tired of no electricity in spite of the colossal investments in power generation. They crave a land of equal opportunities, social justice, fairness and liberty to pursue their legitimate daily chores without let or hindrances, a land where the existence and ability to achieve their hearts desires and to contribute their quota to its development is not defined by their identities,” he said.

On her part, Okunnu, described the election as peaceful.

She said: “We are the promise of Nigeria. We are both the legacy and the future. We must conquer insecurity by putting our children immediately back to school. No price is too high for knowledge and education. Educated children will have work to do; they will not resort to crime and violence out of frustration or desperation.

“We must defeat corruption and realize the economic potential of this resource-rich country by a rational economic plan; a plan to open our immense productive capacity in old and new industry; to feed our people and to create jobs of the future,” she said.