The leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the South West, Mulikat Akande, has announced that the party intends to present reliable and proven candidates for elective positions in order to challenge the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State during the 2027 general elections.
In an interview with reporters over the weekend, held at an Iftar organized by the Oyo State chapter of the party for stakeholders in the 11 local governments of Ibadanland, Akande commented on the party’s prospects.
He emphasized that the SDP would ensure that only credible candidates are nominated to represent the party.
“You don’t just sit down and say you want to win election and then go and bring out anybody. We must have the right candidates, somebody tested and trusted,who has integrity that when people hears his name they can rely on him. Someone who is dependable and reliable who will work for the people and not for himself. Those are the qualities we are looking for,” she said.
Akande charged party faithful to remain loyal to the party so as to ensure it’s success at the polls urging intending members to register at their various wards.
“It’s not about me, I have said it several times that I am not contesting for any office anymore, it’s about the common good of the people of Oyo state,” she stated.
The former Reps member who represented Ogbomoso North/ South and Orire Federal Constituency between 2007 and 2015 on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party PDP, recalled why she left the PDP due to injustice.
“I ran for Senate and we worked for the present governor of the State,Seyi Makinde . While we were working for him, he was working against me, it was something I have never seen before, it was a total betrayal,” she lamented.
She said the iftar which is the first to be organized by the party had 40 members each from the 11 local governments in Ibadanland.
Speaking on the defection of former Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai to the SDP said “politics is a game of numbers and anybody who wants to come into SDP is welcome as long as they are ready to play by the rules of the party and not with the mind of taking the party from those who are there before”.
She said she was not aware that the motive of the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, to join the SDP is to become the Presidential Candidate of the party in the 2027 general elections.
In his remarks at the event, the Oyo State Chairman of the SDP, Barrister Michael Okunlade enjoined members to regularize their membership of the party at their various wards, local governments and at the state level
Okunlade stated that the iftar was organized to bring members together in the spirit of Ramadan and to discuss how to move the party forward noting that similar exercise had been organized in other zones of the state
Recalled that the presidential candidate of the Action Alliance, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and Mallam Nasir El-Rufai recently decamped to the SDP, the motive behind the decisions are yet unknown.
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