The Presidency and political stakeholders have dismissed claims that President Bola Tinubu is funding the Social Democratic Party (SDP) following the recent defection of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai to the opposition party.
Naijaonpoint reports that the controversy began after an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Lagos, Joe Igbokwe, alleged on his Facebook page that Tinubu owned the SDP, suggesting that the party was an extension of the president’s political influence.
“If indeed SDP is still alive and kicking in Nigeria, then know the truth and have inner peace: PBAT (President Bola Ahmed Tinubu) is the owner. Ignore him at your peril,” Igbokwe wrote, referencing Tinubu’s past ties to the party during the 1993 era of Chief MKO Abiola.
Amid mixed reactions, Igbokwe doubled down, insisting that Tinubu’s historical ties to the SDP in the 1990s proved his influence over the party.
“President Tinubu was a Senator under SDP in 1993. Go and investigate and verify. He is the owner of SDP,” he added.
However, the SDP’s 2023 presidential candidate, Adewole Adebayo, dismissed Igbokwe’s claim, questioning his political relevance.
“Who is he? I don’t know him. I also don’t recollect meeting him before. Has he ever held any political office in the country? Maybe he is just running his mouth,” Adebayo said.
The Presidency also refuted the allegations, stating that Tinubu remains fully committed to the APC and has no ties to the SDP.
Speaking with Punch, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communications, Daniel Bwala, dismissed any link between Tinubu and the opposition party.
“Asiwaju (Tinubu) is a member of APC, a leader of the party, and president on that platform. I have never known him to be leading any other political party. From AD, AC, ACN to APC, he has never moved to SDP,” Bwala stated.
Lukman Confirms Past SDP-Tinubu Ties
However, a former APC National Vice Chairman (North-West), Salihu Lukman, provided further insight, revealing that the SDP leadership once had an arrangement with Tinubu ahead of the 2023 APC presidential primary.
“Some of us raised the issue with the National Chairman of SDP, and he acknowledged that they had an agreement with Asiwaju before the primary of 2023. But now, he doesn’t have any relationship with Asiwaju,” Lukman disclosed.
Despite these past dealings, Lukman insisted that SDP was now independent of Tinubu’s influence and stressed that ongoing talks with the party’s leadership aimed to restructure it for broader participation.
“The issue now is for them to open the party up and agree to produce new leadership that will reflect the new set-up from ward to national level. They are resisting that, which is the issue,” he explained.
Lukman also criticized El-Rufai’s decision to defect prematurely, arguing that it complicated ongoing negotiations with the SDP leadership.
“What Nasir (El-Rufai) has done now has created a new dynamic entirely. Anybody who goes into SDP now will be seen as following El-Rufai. It will look like he is the godfather bringing people into the party,” he lamented.
He argued that El-Rufai should have waited for negotiations to conclude before publicly joining the SDP, adding that a coordinated defection strategy would have been more effective.
“That was why I said earlier that he was too much in a hurry with the defection. What we said was to wait and conclude all negotiations so that everybody moves in the same direction at the same time,” he said.