ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Some prominent politicians, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Labour Party (LP) ex-presidential candidate Peter Obi, are in talks to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP), according to Adewole Adebayo, the SDP’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election.
Adebayo disclosed this while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
He noted that talks are ongoing between the political figures and the SDP, which recently welcomed a former Kaduna State governor and former All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain into its ranks.
“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 where if you have not been in an environment where rules are taken seriously.
“Some of them are doing some Boy Scouts, black market operations, we are dealing with that. But we welcome them into the party.
READ ALSO: SDP Not Refuge For Disgruntled Politicians – Adebayo
“All these people you have mentioned, El-Rufai, Atiku Abubakar, even former Governor Peter Obi are coming. A lot of people are coming, and we will welcome them”, the SDP chieftain said.
When asked directly if Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, is planning to join the SDP, Adebayo responded: “Supposedly, until somebody joins, we don’t know.
“But people have told me, and the Financial Secretary (SDP) has also informed me, that they are talking. So we will welcome everybody.
“Surely, when we come in, and we don’t become a tower of Babel; if we come in, follow the rules and allow one person to emerge transparently, clearly, without cheating, without criminality the way we did our convention in 2022, people applauded us transparently, no court case, no crisis, no allegations.
“If they can stick to our culture and follow the way we do in the SDP and produce a good alternative to Nigerians, we are going to manifestly defeat the APC and retire President Tinubu to Lagos or wherever he chooses in Nigeria.”
Peter Obi, who garnered support from millions of Nigerian youths, came third in the 2023 presidential election with approximately six million votes. Atiku Abubakar finished second behind APC’s Bola Tinubu, who won the poll.
Meanwhile despite swirling rumours, Obi has consistently affirmed that he remains with the Labour Party, the platform on which he contested the 2023 election.