The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Social Democratic Party (SDP)

  • SDP demands real-time electronic transmission of election results

    SDP demands real-time electronic transmission of election results

    The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has raised a strong and urgent voice in defense of transparency, accountability, and the collective will of the Nigerian people.

    In a press statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Araba Rufus Aiyenigba, the SDP expressed deep concern over what it described as deliberate and unpatriotic resistance by the leadership of the 10th Senate to meaningful electoral reforms.

    At the heart of this resistance, the party noted, is the refusal to provide a clear legislative mandate for the real-time electronic transmission of election results—an issue Nigerians have spoken about with one voice.

    Across the country, citizens have made their position unmistakably clear. During the extensive nationwide public hearings conducted by the Senate in 2025 on the Electoral Act (Repeal and Enactment) Bill 2026, Nigerians demanded reforms that would move the nation beyond the credibility challenges that marred the 2023 general elections. Their message was simple but powerful: Nigeria’s democracy must be strengthened through modern, transparent, and technology-driven electoral processes.

    The SDP emphasised that tools such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) are no longer optional innovations but essential safeguards. These systems, the party argued, significantly reduce human error and block avenues for manipulation that often occur during the manual movement of results by anti-democratic actors.

    According to the party, it is increasingly evident that many patriotic senators, the Nigerian electorate, and even the nation’s electoral umpire—the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)—are aligned in their desire to move the country forward.

    Read Also: Tinubu unveils major sports sector reform, orders funding reset from 2026

     The SDP commended the new leadership of INEC for its positive disposition toward integrity-driven reforms anchored on transparency and credible elections.

    However, the party issued a stern warning that a small, self-serving cabal within the Senate leadership must not be allowed to hold Nigeria’s democracy hostage. In clear terms, the SDP demanded that the new Electoral Act 2026 must contain an unambiguous legal command mandating the real-time electronic transmission of results by polling unit presiding officers. Anything less, the party warned, would leave room for legal loopholes and future manipulation.

    The SDP also reaffirmed its confidence in INEC, noting that the Commission has already demonstrated the infrastructure, technical capacity, and patriotic will to transmit election results electronically in real time—if only it is allowed to operate without political encumbrances.

    Invoking the timeless truth that “eternal vigilance is the price of freedom,” the party called on citizens, civil society organisations, and all democrats to rise in defense of Nigeria’s democracy. It urged collective resistance against any attempt by a few mandate holders to promote personal interests over the national good.

    Nigeria, the SDP concluded, cannot afford a repeat of the credibility crisis of the 2023 elections in 2027. The moment demands unity, courage, and action. All hands must be on deck to protect the ballot, safeguard democracy, and prevent the nation from sliding backward at a time when progress is both possible and necessary.

  • Coalition: dancing naked before the North

    Coalition: dancing naked before the North

    It will take a little more time before the leadership of the political coalition being formed to unseat President Bola Tinubu properly crystallises. But for now, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, former governors Nasir el-Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi are mentioned as belonging to the first tier of coalition leadership. First, there was talk of the coalition fusing into the Social Democratic Party (SDP), but the leaders postured too arrogantly to be welcomed warmly. Then they began talking glibly about moving en masse into the African Democratic Congress (ADC); but here, too, they met with some resistance and unnerving preconditions. Now, they are actively thinking of setting up a new party, where they can have the freedom to do as they please. It will undoubtedly cost a pretty penny, and a lot more arduous and sleepless nights to develop the rubric of a new party, but in the end they may have no choice. Whether they set up a new party or fuse into an old one in their desperate attempt to find a shortcut to power, they will go through many painful and sleepless nights, and they will spend a fortune.

    Meanwhile, in their urgent quest to take the presidency in 2027, and regardless of whether they have found the vehicle and the drivers to take them to the promised land or not, the coalition has begun to agitate for change using two methods. First, they believe that casting the Tinubu presidency as either irreligious or too religious would be effective; and second, they think belittling the administration’s record in the fight against insecurity, including accusing it of being anti-North in appointments and policies, would impress sceptics. Their allegations fly in the face of evidence, but they recognise that they are appealing to illiterate northerners incapable of deep reflections or envious southerners consistent in their resentment toward the president, all of them united by the pains and hunger they have been made to endure as a result of the ongoing economic reforms. They begin with the implausible proposition that without the North, no southerner could win the presidency, ignoring the equally salient inverse that no northerner could win the presidency without southern support. Unsure whether this illogic about regional influence would fly, they have begun to suggest that the North – for the amorphous coalition is essentially inspired by northerners – would repudiate support for President Tinubu if he could not find a solution to insecurity in their region.

    Former vice president Namadi Sambo is the latest proponent of the insecurity caveat. Mallam el-Rufai, despite being accused of predisposing the North to insecurity by his bigoted support for herdsmen and Fulani militias, has also been mouthing the subject of insecurity as a critical factor for denying President Tinubu support. Insecurity, especially in the North, may seem intractable, but it is hard to explain why any northern politician or leader would use that as an electoral weapon, especially considering that they have been accused of inspiring it, while the present administration has put them entirely in charge of reining in the madness and chaos in the beleaguered region. The coalition, when it finally crystallises, will, however, not be discomfited by logic or common sense. They know the people they are targeting: the talakawas susceptible to the twin emotional appeal of hunger and insecurity; and the core North ravaged by banditry, Boko Haram/ISWAP, Lakurawa, and now Mahmuda terror groups.

    It is hard to understand why northern political leaders, whose derelictions engendered and entrenched poverty and insecurity in the North, are politicising the conjoined issues of mass hunger and insurgency. They will, of course, be cross examined at the campaigns; but even if they think they can explain their complicity in the tragedies and disasters afflicting the North, they may find themselves being nudged into responses certain to make their coalition inchoate or malformed. In late May, the National Political Consultative Group (North) invited the coalition leaders to address them on their plans for 2027 and the issues affecting the region. The itinerant Peter Obi, former Anambra governor and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last poll, made a presentation where he assailed the Tinubu presidency for neglecting the North. Sucking up to the North, and deploying his usual Asian Tiger developmental statistics in addition to Nordic sprinklings, he praised the region, describing it is a sine qua non for Nigeria’s development and renaissance. He would rewrite the region’s trajectory, he fawned in the presence of Alhaji Atiku and Mr Amaechi seating at the front row. It is not clear what the coalition aurochs thought as Mr Obi pontificated, but they wore glacial expressions as they ruminated on their own pending presentations. They probably knew that they must still argue their programmes before more northern groups in the months ahead as they frantically hope to retake office which they had incompetently deployed for decades to the mass impoverishment of the region.

    But they are all barking up the wrong tree. First, despite his political peregrinations and pell-mell financial donations, Mr Obi, either as presidential candidate or running mate, will still have to address the conundrum surrounding his candidacy in the last presidential election when he described himself as the Christian champion in a race he characterised as a religious war. It is not clear how he will navigate or drain the swamp he walked into by his opportunism, but it is clear he cannot be persuasive. Second, the coalition leaders obviously hope that the old Nigerian political dynamic, influenced by decades of military rule monopolised by northern military officers, can be restored and would need northern political leaders to organise or inspire. Alhaji Atiku had hoped to ride on that wave in the 2023 poll but was shocked by how ancient the idea proved to be. He had obviously learnt little from the Muhammau Buhari years. In his speech before the northern consultative group, Mr Obi clearly and amateurishly tried to ingratiate himself with the North, believing, as Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former presidential assistant, recently argued, that the North could single-handedly determine winner of the next presidential poll. The coalition, when it finally takes form, may discover to its dismay that it is trapped in the past. President Buhari broke the mould, and President Tinubu proved beyond reasonable doubt that new dynamics are at play.

    Read Also: Five budget-friendly Android phones under ₦100,000 in Nigeria

    Passion has cooled considerably in the run-up to the coalition formation. In March, after a few months of fancy footwork, Alhaji Atiku, Mallam el-Rufai, and Mr Obi spoke elegantly in Abuja about the coalition to unseat President Tinubu. Since then, Mr Obi has hemmed and hawed, sometimes insisting that, to him, what mattered was good governance, not simply winning the presidency. He was of course simply throwing a red herring. His presidential campaign in 2023 and his insular team and ideology proved beyond all doubt that he valued power more than any other thing, especially seeing how clearly he anchored his every statement on the stump on moral exigencies and abstract statistics than on the existentially germane issues of federalism and secularism. His politics is, after all, one of paternalism, as his Obidient movement hinted by their unrelenting and unorthodox methods of browbeating dissenters.

    Since that fateful March too, Mallam el-Rufai has vacillated between one fringe party and another, between a high today and a low tomorrow. He has even gone ahead to assume the coalition’s victory in 2027, has formed the cabinet in his mind at least partially, and indicated that the campaign that would procure success for them would rest on both the alleged inability of the Tinubu presidency to rein in insecurity and the mass misery in the country. He has, however, not been as cocksure as before about the fulcrum of the coalition, whether it would be the SDP which he rhapsodised in Kano very freely or the ADC which some of his coalition leaders muted in private discussions. Just as those who surround United States President Donald Trump clipped the tempestuous Elon Musk’s wings, even before the opposition coalition is fully formed, Mallam el-Rufai’s wings have suffered damage. Yes they will need an unprincipled and loquacious and eloquent speaker who could argue both sides of a position fluently and persuasively, but they fear much more his recklessness and the considerable baggage his Kaduna governorship might bring to a party that seeks to overthrow a behemoth.

    A critical mass may already be forming in the North around the idea that four more years of President Tinubu, given the increasingly positive effects of his reforms, will not harm the country. There is hardly any governor, across party lines, who does not view the reforms positively, seeing how their swelling state coffers have enabled them more latitude to reengineer their finances and embark on major projects. And there is hardly any knowledgeable analyst who does not see the reforms as more promising than the time-worn hypotheses peddled by the coalition leaders. More critically, opinion is hardening even among the northern elite that it would amount to insensitive promotion of northern or Fulani exceptionalism to want to abridge the eight-year tenure for the South barely four years after a northerner spent eight years in office. Like it or not, as unorthodox as the principle might appear, it has helped to moderate Nigeria’s power game and the contest for high office. Regardless of the malicious campaigns by any coalition, the North will allow sleeping dogs to lie, and do everything to sustain the formula. They will prefer to play safe rather than embrace either Alhaji Atiku’s self-centred plan to win office for only one term and cede a second term to Mr Obi or the revenge attack by the spurned Mallam el-Rufai still hurting from his exclusion from the Tinubu cabinet.

  • SDP debunks appointments of Uba, Gombe as NWC members

    SDP debunks appointments of Uba, Gombe as NWC members

    The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has debunked the media reports of the appointments of the duo of Senator Ugochukwu Uba and Dr. Sadiq Abubakar Gombe as members of its National Working Committee (NWC.

    SDP said they were not its registered members.

    Media reports had claimed that Uba was appointed the National Deputy Chairman (South) of the Party and Gombe as Deputy National Chairman (North) respectively.

    However, in a swift reaction, the party dismissed the report as misleading and false information fabricated to create confusion within its folds, insisting that the duo were not its registered members and as such could not have been appointed into such sensitive and important offices as being claimed and urged its members, stakeholders as well as the members of the public to disregard the fake news.

    In a statement made available to newsmen on the development by Chief Arinze Ekelem, National Vice Chairman (South East), the zone debunked the purported appointment of Uba as the National Deputy Chairman South of the party.

    According to the statement, “The South East zone of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in totality debunked the appointment of Dr Ugochukwu Uba as the National Deputy Chairman south of the party.

    “The falsehood and misleading information reported by some media outlets that a certain Ugochukwu Uba has been appointed the National Deputy Chairman of the social democratic party, SDP, is false, misleading and never happened.”

    Read Also: 29-year-old Nigerian-British woman becomes UK’s youngest mayor

    The statement further reads, “We wish to state categorically and for the avoidance of doubt that Senator Ugochukwu Uba is not a card-carrying member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Consequently, any claim regarding his appointment to any leadership position within the party is false, misleading, and does not reflect the resolutions or discussions of the meeting of the NWC.

    “No such decision was taken at the meeting of the National Working Committee held on 15th May 2025 at the Party’s National Secretariat in Abuja. The alleged appointment is therefore null, void, and of no effect whatsoever, he affirmed.

    “South East SDP leadership urges party members, stakeholders, and the general public to disregard this misinformation and remain committed to the integrity, values, and due process that guide the affairs of the Social Democratic Party, ” he said.

    “Also, the South East SDP zone passes a vote of confidence and pledges loyalty to the National leadership of the party under the Chairmanship of Alhaji Shehu Musa Gabam. The South East SDP zone lauded the impact and exceptional achievements of the party under the leadership of Gabam, which made the SDP win some seats at the 2023 general elections. SDP is a party that prioritises inclusivity. It is a party for Nigerians seeking a fresh political direction to rescue this country, he stated.

    South East SDP vowed to work assiduously with the NWC under the leadership of Alhaji Shehu Musa Gabam to promote, project and ensure that the party continues to gain ground and continues to win elections in Nigeria

    Also, the Gombe State Chapter of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has discussed the purported appointment of Dr. Sadiq Abubakar Gombe, saying that he was not a registered member, nor a card-carrying member of the Party

    This was contained in a statement made available to the news men by Comrade Adamu Abubakar Modibbo Ag. State Chairman, Gombe State Chapter

    The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a viral message circulating on social media alleging that the National Working Committee (NWC) of our party had appointed the said Dr. Sadiq Abubakar Gombe as Deputy National Chairman (North).

    “This false, fabricated and politically fraudulent claim is hereby completely dismissed in its entirety. After thorough verification from the National Secretariat of our great Party in Abuja, we confirm authoritatively that no such appointment was ever discussed or ratified by the National Working Committee.

    “The purported appointment is a gross misrepresentation and a deliberate act of impersonation aimed at misleading the public.

    “To set the record straight, Dr. Sadiq Abubakar Gombe hails from Jekadafari Ward, Gombe LGA, Gombe State, he is not a registered member of the SDP from his ward or any ward in Nigeria.

    “Our Database shows that his name is not recorded in any membership register at the ward, local government, state, or national level. This deceitful action represents a clear assault on the democratic values and internal structures of our great party.

    “We strongly advise the general public to disregard any correspondence, claims, or representations made by or on behalf of Dr. Sadiq Abubakar Gombe about the SDP. We remain resolute in defending the credibility and constitution of our party. We will not tolerate impostors or political opportunists seeking to hijack our platform through illegal and dishonest means.

    In a swift reaction, the National Chairman of the Party

  • We are Nigeria’s political bride, SDP boasts

    We are Nigeria’s political bride, SDP boasts

    Ahead of the 2027 general elections, leaders of the opposition  Social Democratic Party (SDP) from the North Central have declared the party Nigeria’s political bride.

    They claimed that the influx of new members to the party in the country is indicative of the fact the party would be the ruling party in 2027.

    The National Vice Chairman, North Central of the party, Abubakar Dogara, was quoted in a statement in Abuja to have make this declaration during the party’s zonal Caucus meeting, which held on Thursday in Nasarawa State

    According to Dogara: “We are holding meetings from zone, national level, ward level, state level and local government levels. It’s part of the preparation, and we have been registering new members across the country every now and then. 

    Read Also: Japa syndrome: Nigerian global firm tackles medical tourism with cutting-edge healthcare solutions

    “Our membership card has always been exhausted at the state level. So, we are making preparations to take over leadership of the country come 2027, by the grace of God. 

    “I want to believe that SDP is now the (political) bride of the nation. Everyone is coming into the SDP, and I want to believe, even you, the media will also be part of the members of the SDP any moment from now.”

    Urging more Nigerians to join the party and support its candidates in the forthcoming general elections, Dogara insisted: ‘’SDP is the alternative party in Nigeria now. Our message to Nigerians is to come en masse and join the party.”

    He admonished party members to give support to its leadership. “First of all, support the leadership of the party by abiding with the provision of the party’s constitution.

    Echoing same sentiment, Benue chairman of the party, Hon. Idoko Idoto, expressed optimism that the party would emerge victorious in 2027 in Benue State and other parts of the country.

    “Well, SDP has 100 percent chance in Benue State. In the time past, SDP once ruled Benue State. We had a governor. 

    “So come 2027, I assure you, SDP is coming with full force. SDP is going to take over Benue State. SDP is going to take over the whole senatorial districts,” he said. 

  • El-Rufai: SDP not interested in merger, high profile politicians

    El-Rufai: SDP not interested in merger, high profile politicians

    Former Kaduna Governor, Nasir el-Rufai has said the-Social Democratic Party (SDP) is not negotiating for a merger or coalition of small political parties but more interested in the masses than even the so called high profile politicians.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) was formed in 2013 as a result of a merger of three largest opposition parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) with a breakaway faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

    El-Rufai, who was part of that merger and on whose platform he won the governorship, said the SDP is not bringing political parties together but registering people (voters) who like him, are not happy with the current administration.

    He spoke to journalists in Kano where he went to pay a courtesy call to the reinstated Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II.

    El-Rufai was also in Kano to discuss with SDP executives on how to build the party in the state and register at least three million people.

    “We don’t want the SDP to be about high profile individuals. You know, the SDP has had ex-Governors. We don’t care about that.

    “We want to see the SDP registering three million members in Kano. If we register three million members in Kano, I don’t care if the Governor joins us or not. I know that he’s either with us or he’s not.

    “That’s how democracies are supposed to work. We give too much premium on defections and high profile people,” he said.

    The former FCT minister also underestimated the power of serving Governors, adding that the SDP is not even interested in pulling them from other political parties, since a Governor, he said, has just one vote like the ordinary Nigerian.

    Read Also: Tinubu’s policies can transform Nigeria if backed by accountability – Methodist Bishop

    “The fact that one governor from PDP has defected and so on, it’s nothing. We are not looking at governors. We are trying to offer Nigerians and Nigerian voters an alternative.

    “A Governor has only one vote. Nigerians have many more votes than one governor or 36 governors. It doesn’t matter if you collect 36 governors, if the people of Nigeria say we are not with you, it’s over.

    “The president (Bola Tinubu) had a sitting Governor but lost Lagos. So what is the value of a Governor? I was the governor of Kaduna state. I fought hard to deliver the President in my state but I lost.

    “Governors don’t determine election results. The people do. This is what many Nigerians forget.

    “And we want the SDP to remind them of that. So that’s our story. I am the first to join with some members of my group, but there are other groups and we are still talking,” he said.

    El-Rufai explained that his coming into the SDP has strengthened the party and it was part of his duty to canvass for membership across the country, particularly in states like Kano, where he noted, is the most important when it comes to voting.

    He said: “Since I joined the SDP, there has been some level of excitement in the party about many people wanting to join the movement.

    “And Kano, of course, is the most important state in Nigeria electorally. Kano doesn’t have the highest number of registered voters, but it has the highest number of people that actually come out to vote.

    “Lagos has more registered voters but Lagosians don’t vote. Kano people vote. And that’s why any serious politician will take Kano with a certain degree of focus.

    “Our chapter in Kano has excellent quality leadership, but we still need to build the party. And it is part of my responsibility as a senior member of the party now, a member of the National Executive Committee of the party, to help in that regard. So this is the second reason why I’m in Kano.”

  • People joining SDP have to change culture of where they’re coming from – Adebayo

    People joining SDP have to change culture of where they’re coming from – Adebayo

    As the 2027 general elections draw nearer, politicians and political parties have begun alignment and realignment. In this interview with Gbenga Aderanti, Prince Adewole Adebayo, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), speaks on the All Progressives Congress (APC), opposition, and other issues

    How would you react to the recent change in the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) by President Bola Tinubu?

    Well, it’s an executive prerogative because he is the Minister of Petroleum. So, even if he wasn’t, he is the Chief Executive of Nigeria. So, now that he’s Minister of Petroleum, it means that he has looked at what he wants to achieve, and he feels that he needs to rejig his team. I wouldn’t say I wasn’t expecting it to come. I was expecting it to come earlier with respect to the fact that Mr. Mele Kyari has survived three presidents. He had the first term of President Buhari, the second term of President Buhari, and now he’s into almost half of President Tinubu’s entire presidency. So, I thought that with some of the objectives that he set in place, I was wondering how they were going to do it because the management needed to change if the tactics were going to change. So, if he’s done it now, well, I’ll keep my gunpowder dry, but I will imagine that there are major problems in the upstream sector. I think downstream, the NNPCL has managed to survive the problems of the incessant scarcity of products. They’ve managed to revive at least one of the refineries, the Port Harcourt Refinery, and I think the one in Warri appears to be coming on stream, and Kaduna has gone far too.

    So, concerning the downstream side, I think they’ve done quite okay, especially with the pipelines, the gas pipeline, and the AKK that they’re doing. So, they are most successful downstream. So, I think the President wants to pivot to the upstream because I know Bayo Ojulari’s records, and I think the upstream sector is probably where they want to try their luck now. However, it doesn’t mean that the change of this board could not have been done better. I expected that if I were President, I would have asked those who are on the board to resign rather than just fire them like that, especially since you’ve managed to renew their mandate only recently. But, I don’t have all the personnel file, and I don’t know what he has seen, but I thought that with what I’ve seen them achieve outwardly, especially in the last three years, I thought that would have been more honourable to have asked them to resign, rather than just fire them like that.

    What do you make of the choice of Ojulari, his background and his profile, what do you make of it? Would you say it’s a fantastic decision from the president?

    Ojulari is a qualified professional in the field, and I respect that, but there are hundreds of them, or let me not be uncharitable, there are dozens of them. What’s going to make a difference is not whether you have an engineering background or whether you have a marketing background. What’s going to make a difference is how you relate with the chief executive. The relationship must be such that it’s virtually an independent one because the president is a politician. He has political objectives. He runs a public sector system. He can print his own money if he wants to, and he can burst his budgets. But, for a private sector-oriented NNPCL, you have to live within your means, you have to play by the market rules, and you have to listen to professionals more than you listen to politicians. You have to do what makes sense in the long run for the shareholders, even though the Nigerian people are the shareholders. So, This means that there will be a philosophical conflict between what the President wants to achieve politically and what the NNPCL wants to achieve commercially and corporately.

    If you look at Kyari’s era at the NNPCL, especially with the kind of politics that was being played with pricing and the competition between the Dangote and the NNPCL in the sale of product, if you were to tell Mr Ojulari something that will be valuable for the benefit of Nigerians, what would that be?

    From what I see, we need to understand that NNPCL is not the regulator. The regulator of the product range will be the downstream regulator, and NNPCL is not, though it’s a shareholder in the private refinery of Dangote, but they have their refineries too, and they have their own value chain. So, we should expect some reasonable competition if we are adopting the market approach. I don’t think that NNPCL would want to fall on the sword just to make Dangote a little more profitable. So, a bit of competition between them is not bad. If they are competing in unethical way and they are allowing for joining towards the perfect market where supply and demand will meet without necessary inhibition; so I don’t think as president I would, tell my refinery or my own company that has its refinery, to just please a private sector person that will have its refinery. But, high and above Dangote and the NNPCL, I will need to have a plan to make fuel affordable to Nigerian people. And those are regulatory decisions not taken at the level of the NNPCL, which is to license more refineries to produce more and to create financial incentives for those who want to improve our refining capacity in Nigeria rather than pay for those who want to import from abroad because if you import from abroad, you are exporting labour and productivity overseas and poverty into your own country through unemployment. So, there are different levels of decision-making here.

    Read Also: Tinubu charges heads of education agencies to protect integrity of sector

    It looks like Tinubu wants the Warri and the Port Harcourt refineries to work optimally. And he has given a specific task to Ojulari to give him 2,000,000 barrels per day in the next two years and 5,000,000 barrels per day in the next five years. Is this a banana peel for Ojulari?

    All I can say is that I am not easily enthused by politicians giving corporate directives to a company that has its board and their own management targets and realities. So, this automatic alacrity issue, I think, is more for the political optics. You don’t make your decision on the day you put in a new CEO. Usually, there is a long-term plan. And if I hear these numbers correctly, they are not far from what Kyari was pursuing. So, I think the best we can say is that the president is probably re-echoing what he has been briefed on before by the former administration or the target he had with the previous administration, and he is letting Mr. Ojulari know that these are the things we are aiming at achieving. But I don’t think it’s something that he has just carved out for Ojulari. It is something that the old management was also pursuing. And time will tell if Mr. Ojulari is going to be able to do better, especially as part of the lead time for performance has been undertaken by the Kyari-led led-group. The past management has started that journey. Even on the downstream side, there have been some new arrangements with the IOCs to explore new fields and to meet the target because of the fiscal problem that Nigeria has. If you look at our budget, we are not meeting the OPEC quota they are giving to us. And we have a very large population and we have budget deficits. And we are also now improving our refining capacity, so we need to have more crude to be given as feedstock to the local refineries. So those targets, I don’t think that even if you remove Ojulari tomorrow, the targets will change. I would expect three things. One, those targets look too modest. Maybe the president understands the executive and management capacity of NNPCL. But, I would think that those targets, if I were president, are too modest. They should have been at least twice that target. Secondly, how they perform also depends on the angle that the president shows to them. If the president allows them to run as corporate people, commercial people, and there’s less pressure to use the golden egg of the NNPCL to finance the political programme of the government, to finance the deficit of the government, and all of that. If they allow them to work on their through and develop their value chain, and have a proper healthy balance sheet that you will find in Petrobras and some other competitors that they might have. If you follow petroleum marketing or petroleum production or petroleum industry accounting standards where there are no opaque parts where you’re just financing politics or funding public sector programme, Ojulari will be a lucky person. But, when it comes to Kyari, he has his own problems. We must give him some kudos because his ability to transform from the same NNPCL where the majority of their crude oil was being stolen to one where they have addressed it and reduced the theft to where they are able to carry on projects is commendable.

    Some of you are working to prevent President Tinubu and the APC from returning to office in 2027. But those in the APC believe that in today’s Nigerian politics, there isn’t anyone that can stop Tinubu from returning to power in 2027. How are you planning to achieve your dream of stopping him and the APC in 2027?

    First is to engage with them, to make sure that they know that we love the country. We are not against them as persons, but we are against their policies. And to take these policies one by one and to ensure that we expose these policies and the weaknesses of these policies to the Nigerian people. It is in the interest of Nigerians, in the interest of even the APC members, because there are millions of them who are suffering as well as the rest of Nigerians. Because once you leave your party headquarters, and you go into the taxi or Uber or you go to the market, or you go to school or hospital, nobody cares about your political party anymore.

    We will take that campaign and talk to the Nigerian people. And I believe that people who say that President Tinubu is unshakable they forget about the humanity of President Tinubu; just a human being like the rest of us. No human being can say I’m unshakable, only God is unshakable. Secondly, those who said it in the past, including PDP, say we’ll do 60 years in power; they barely did 16 years. Even the National Security Adviser today was on the side of President Goodluck Jonathan, and he said that an incumbent president could never be beaten. The same Nuhu Ribadu is probably one of those who are still saying now that President Tinubu is unshakable. But the day the new government is being sworn in, President Tinubu going back to Lagos these people are going to say the next government will be irreplaceable. What is clear is that the only reason, the only possibility that can make us not to defeat Tinubu in 2027 is if he does his job now because Nigerian people are not looking at my face, they’re not looking at his face they’re looking at the faces of their children, hungry for food, and unemployed.

    On which platform would you be using? Is it the SDP, and with a lot of people who are joining your party, do you even stand a chance of getting the ticket?

    Getting the ticket depends on the SDP people. They know me. People are joining my party, and we are welcoming them. You can see how active I am in welcoming them. The only little issue we have with some of them is to change the culture of where they are coming from. If you have not been in an environment where there are rules or where rules are taken seriously, you need to get used to such an environment. Some of them are doing some Boy Scouts, black market operations. We are dealing with that. But, we welcome them into the party. We believe that their coming will strengthen the party. I am not at all perturbed that these names that you have mentioned like Nasir El-Rufai, Vice President Atiku Abubakar and other people are coming. I was told that even Governor Peter Obi is coming. A lot of people are coming. We welcome them. We don’t have a problem.

    Is Peter Obi joining SDP?

    Supposedly so, and until somebody joins, we don’t know. But his people are coming. My National Secretary has also informed me that they are talking. They are coming. I say welcome, everybody. So when we come in, and we don’t become a tower of Babel, if we come in, we follow the rules, and we allow one person to emerge transparently, clearly, without cheating, without criminality, without all sorts of things that Nigerians would say, oh my God, these same people have become these other type of people as well. The way we did our convention in 2022, the people applauded us transparently, no court case, no crisis and no allegations. If they can change our culture, and they don’t have to fear that, oh, if I don’t cheat, I can’t win. If I don’t bribe, I can’t win. If they follow the way we do in SDP, and we produce a good alternative to Nigerian, and the Nigerians see we are going to manifestly defeat the APC.

    With the inability to form a credible coalition, don’t you think it will be very difficult to defeat Tinubu in 2027?

    It is difficult but not impossible, and we are not letting our cat out of the bag yet. What we are saying is this, the fact that many people are wanting to be president, I want to be president and everybody knows that, Vice President Atiku Abubakar wants to be president, Peter Obi wants to be president and there are other people who want to be president who are not talking that doesn’t make any difference. What makes a difference is that all of you, if you are in the same framework and if the framework is firm and reasonable and decisive and at the end of the exercise, everybody comes together to pull behind the flag bearer.

  • 2027: SDP not in merger talks with other parties, says Adebayo

    2027: SDP not in merger talks with other parties, says Adebayo

    Those banking on using the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as a vehicle in 2027 should have a rethink. The party has no plan for merger or collaboration with any platform, its former presidential candidate Adewole Adebayo said at the weekend.

    Adebayo told reporters in Abeokuta that SDP was not planning to merge with ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or any party ahead of the 2027 elections.

    He spoke barely four days after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and some other opposition leaders unveiled a coalition to tackle the ruling APC in 2027.

    Penultimate Monday, former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai defected to the SDP after visiting former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola and founder of the Citadel Global Community Church (Latter Rain Assembly).

    Only yesterday, erstwhile House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha, said he would soon defect to the SDP from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    But the former SDP presidential candidate debunked claims that plans were underway for merger with other parties.

    Read Also: Court orders MTN to pay N840m for trademark infringement

    He also said that the SDP was not an appendage of the APC, saying that the party remains committed to the welfare and well-being of all Nigerians.

    Adebayo spoke at a meeting with members of the state executive of the party. He was accompanied during his visit by a former Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, as well as the party’s chairman in Ogun, Oyo, Lagos, among others.

    He said: “The reason people look down on us is because we don’t attack people to tackle issues, because our party is a party of intellect. We are the only party that’s a little to the left. Having been a little to the left since we came in 1989 we remain so.

    “The problems of Nigeria can only be found with solutions on the left, which is that chapter two of the Constitution, invest money in education, in housing, in healthcare, good infrastructure, let Nigerians live what chief Obafemi Awolowo called a life more abundant,” he said.

    According to him, the SDP was open to genuine entrants but not to people of questionable character.

    The chairman of the party in the state, Ola Williams, seized the occasion to welcome genuine new members into the party.

  • Our party wants govt to succeed, says SDP 2023 presidential candidate Adebayo

    Our party wants govt to succeed, says SDP 2023 presidential candidate Adebayo

    The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 general election, Prince Adewale Adebayo, has said he and members of his party support governments from local governments up to the federal level to succeed in delivering good governance.

    The SDP leader, who chaired an event in Adamawa State – the Numan Cultural Carnival 2025 – noted that in the view of the SDP, the question of who wins or loses an election should not matter but how the government fares.

    He said: “We do not want the government of the day to fail; either the government in Yola or the Federal Government in Abuja. We believe that once a government is in place, that’s our government. We will not sabotage them, we will not criticise them unfairly.”

    Adebayo said he and his party would only show the people that “whatever the government is doing, we can do better and whatever bad they are doing we are not joining them so that every government we elect is better than the one before it”.

    Read Also: Abdulrazaq names iconic Kwara projects after prominent Nigerians

    Commenting on the Numan Federation Cultural Carnival, which brought together cultural troops from across the five local government areas of Adamawa State that constitute the federation, the SDP stalwart urged all Nigerians to celebrate their customs and live true to their cultural ideals.

    Adebayo was accompanied by notable members of his party, including a former Youth and Sports minister, Solomon Dalung, and the 2023 Adamawa State governorship candidate of the SDP, Dr. Umar Ardo.

    Speaking at the event, Dalung said he cherished culture so much that he had sponsored the Tarok Cultural Carnival in his home Plateau State because of his belief in the worthiness of celebrating cultural ideals.

    The Numan Cultural Carnival was convened by Bishop Rhema Bitrus who explained that it was organised to celebrate unity across the Numan Federation.

  • SDP members defect to APC in Akure

    SDP members defect to APC in Akure

    Social Democratic Party (SDP) have defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State ahead of next week’s governorship election.

    The SDP members joined the APC at Ogbese, Akure North Local Government Area, when Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa led the APC campaign train to members in Akure North.

    Governor Aiyedatiwa campaigned in Iju, Itaogbolu, Igoba, Ogbese, Ilu-Abo, Oba-Ile and Igbatoro. He assured the SDP defectors of equ opportunities in the APC.

    Governor Aiyedatiwa urged the crowd at Ogbese to make their votes count by voting for the APC. He said voting for any other party would be a wasted opportunity.

    Read Also: Floods wreck havoc in Rivers communities 

    At the palace of the Olu of Ilu-Abo, Oba Olu Falae assured Aiyedatiwa that every vote in Ilu-Abo would go to the APC candidate.

    He, however, urged the governor to honour the promises made to the community.

    The Ogbolu of Itaogbolu, Oba Idowu Faborode appealed to Aiyedatiwa to rehabilitate roads in his domain as well as provide other critical amenities.

    Responding, Aiyedatiwa said, “We are working on rural-urban road networks, particularly those that connect farming communities to urban markets. This initiative aims to ease the transportation of food products, bolstering our state’s agricultural sector. If elected, I am committed to expanding these projects and enhancing rural development.”