‘Do Not Feel Big At All’ – Adebayo Speaks On El-Rufai’s Defection To SDP, 2027 Election

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has cautioned politicians not to feel too big upon joining the party because the party, according to him, has processes.

Naijaonpoint reports that Adebayo stated this while responding to the insinuation that he should be worried about the likes of the former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who recently defected to the party rather than celebrate because of the threat such personalities could pose to his presidential ambition.

Adebayo said he has always welcomed everyone to the party because SDP is a camp that recognizes and respects talents.

“SDP is a benefit to those who are coming. It’s a very tough party because of principles. I welcome everybody, but I always tell people that when you are in the SDP, you shouldn’t feel big. Don’t feel big at all because the party has processes; just come in because the party recognises talent.

“You saw when I was talking about Nasir El-Rufai, people were saying, why are you talking about him; suppose he wants to run against you? But for me, it doesn’t matter. We respect talent. We welcome talent. We do a lot of debates. And we want to infuse quality people because the kind of programmes we have in SDP, cannot be implemented by unintelligent people, with all due respect,” The Sun quoted the SDP chieftain saying in a publication on Thursday.

“If you were promising people all these efficiencies, how can we now form a government and start rewarding people according to their political rascality? Just imagine if I was selfish and said, don’t let El-Rufai come in. Don’t let that person come in. I can’t do that because I want good people to come in so that when we form a government, we will have quality talents,” Adebayo added.

He characterized the party as exceptionally robust, asserting that it could have secured Kogi State in the recent gubernatorial election if not for the extensive electoral rigging and manipulations that occurred.

Adeabyo charged the ruling APC with leveraging its incumbency to thwart his party from achieving the victory that the people of Kogi had willingly bestowed upon it.

He said: “Look at the numbers. We won on numbers. All the way, they rigged the election. They didn’t use BVAs in the local governments. Go and read the case. We are very fast at that with cases. All the Supreme Court was saying, yeah, we see the paper, but you didn’t front load. And they did not give it to us. So, we did very well.

“In the Ekiti State, we did very well. We’re doing quite well, but we are not going to use unethical means, like paying voters and rigging. We don’t do that because we’re not desperate. We’re just trying to help Nigerian people to get the benefit of their government. So we’re not going to come and become criminals as a result of that.”

Still, on his readiness to accept politicians from other parties into the SDP fold as the 2027 presidential election inches closer, Adebayo said the SDP is like a church that accommodates various people with different needs.

“Some people go to church to cure diseases. Some go there to exercise their faith. Some go there to look for marriage partners. Some go there to look for business partners and some go there to get jobs. If you work in the church as a cleaner, that’s where you work, but the church remains the same.

“So there may be people who come to the SDP because they want to use their platform to address personal injustice they perceive. Some come to seek political office. Some are just there because they want a good country for us. But, whatever the motive of every person is, it’s a legitimate desire. What the SDP is trying to do is to be a political party that people can look at and say, this party has processes,” he said.

He, however, warned the new entrants, who may be seeing themselves as too necessary, to remember that in the SDP, it is the process that speaks.

He used the analogy of a football club to drive home his point, saying, “When you see Ronaldo playing a match, he has competed during the training with other team members to be picked. Don’t assume that because you won the Footballer of the Year or the Golden Glove in training, a young boy who is 17 years old will not be competing with you.

“If you are not up to your game, the boy will beat you, and he will be the next guy, and you will sit on the bench, whether you like it or not. So, that is the arrangement in the SDP; very fair and open; no joiner and no owner.”