The leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has stated that the anti-people policies and programmes of the President Bola Tinubu administration has provided an easy process for the defeat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by SDP in the next general election.
According to him, President Tinubu was doing everything possible to ensure that he becomes the last APC president by remaining indifferent to the sufferings of the masses.
Speaking in an interview , Adebayo said: “The people who are working the most for SDP to win the next presidential election are members of the APC-led government because they have turned the furnace of the fire on the back of the Nigerian people.
“They are making Nigerians suffer and their pay cannot buy them food. They are making life tough and taking decisions that are always anti-people. They are spending trillions on invisible projects.
“We have a N55 trillion budget that doesn’t trickle down to the people. So, President Tinubu is working hard for us to come and defeat him. He is working hard to see that he will be the last APC president. They are not taking care of the people”.
Reminded that his party lacks the structure to defeat a formidable force like the APC, he said though it appears SDP is structure-less, it would rely on the people to win.
According to him, “we don’t have structure based on criminality, bribery or diversion of public funds, but we rely on the structure of the people,” adding that a credible coalition will make that possible.
“What is not going to work is a coalition that does not carry the people along. What we want to do now is to form an alliance with the Nigerian people. That has not been tried before because what the APC tried before that produced President Buhari was a coalition of politicians.
“And that is what we are telling some of our friends who are looking backward to think forward that what we need to understand is that a coalition of politicians would not impress anybody anymore because the first coalition of politicians in 2015 only satisfied the politicians and left the people high and dry and poor.
“So, right now what the people want is not a coalition of politicians but a coalition with a clear ideology that people can identify with, as well as clear rules for competition.
“I can guarantee you that once the intention is clear that we want to serve the Nigerians, they will give us a chance and we are going to make President Tinubu a one-term president.
“It is difficult but not impossible and we are not letting our cat out of the bag yet,” he said.
He refused to confirm or deny if the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi, is joining the SDP, stressing that until he joins the party, he wouldn’t say he is joining them or not.
“But his people are coming. Our National Secretary has also informed me that they are talking. I say welcome everybody,” he stated.
He advised those who want to join the party not to constitute a clog, but to follow the rules of the party.
“If we follow the rules, and we allow one person to emerge transparently, without cheating, without criminality, and all sorts of things that Nigerians would say, oh my God, these same people have become these other type of people as well, there won’t be any issue.
“The way we did our convention in 2022, the people applauded us. We were most transparent and so, no court case, no crisis and no allegations.
“If they can change to 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 things in the SDP, and we produce a good alternative to Nigerians, we are going to manifestly defeat the APC and retire President Tinubu to Lagos or wherever he chooses to go in Nigeria, and we will start to take care of Nigerians from day one,” he stressed.
