Party politics: Discipline, integrity remain SDP’s watchwords- Adebayo

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has said discipline and integrity are watchwords of the party, advising those coming into the party to drop their ego and fall in line with the rules guiding the party.

He dismissed insinuations in some quarters that the party had become a beautiful bride for “disgruntled and internally displaced politicians” seeking refuge.

Adebayo stated that the party remains a movement driven by young people and women who want real change in Nigeria.

Speaking with journalists, Adebayo stressed that the first set of people who are not satisfied and who have chosen the SDP are the poor masses of Nigeria, adding “the problems in our governance impact the people more than the elite when you talk of hunger, unemployment, insecurity and rising factor costs, among other social problems.”

Adebayo said: “We cannot criticise people’s motives for coming. A political party is a public institution, like a church or a mosque. When somebody’s presence is marked in a mosque and the person wants to pray, you cannot say, where were you last night? Where have you been during your life? Let them pray. If you come to a church, you sit at the pew and you say you want to kneel and pray, the pastor cannot say, wait, I saw you at the nightclub last night. He has to allow you to pray. So, coming to the mosque to pray does not mean that you will be made the Chief Imam. Coming to the church to pray doesn’t mean you are going to be anointed as a bishop, but you are free to come because it’s a place that allows everyone to come.”

Adebayo decried a situation where certain individuals try to manipulate the system from the shadows, expressing hope that the political space was already evolving.

“Many of those who worked closely with Professor Mahmoud Yakubu at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2023 are no longer there. Integrity is key and the law must take its full course. The SDP’s message is clear, we stand for the people. We are not just another big-name political party; we are a movement driven by young people and women who want real change,” he said

He also noted that the SDP as a party does not have any problem with President Tinubu as a person but with the misgovernance that has characterised his administration.