Chief Adewale Adebayo, former presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), has revealed that high-powered discussions are underway with representatives of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party flagbearer, Peter Obi, over a potential defection to the SDP.
Adeboye said this when he appeared on Channels Television on Sunday.
According to him, a wave of key political figures, including former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, are gravitating towards the SDP ahead of the 2027 elections.
“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. 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”, he said.
Meanwhile, when he was asked to clarify if Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, is joining the SDP, Adebayo said, “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.”
Obi, who enjoys the backing of millions of Nigerian youths, came third in the last controversial presidential election after polling about six million votes.
Atiku was second in the poll won by the APC’s Bola Tinubu.
