Obi’s Men Lobbying SDP, Seven Aspirants Jostling For Our Ticket – Agunloye

Actors are now shopping for special purpose vehicles among the 19 registered political parties in Nigeria to fulfill their dream to occupy the Aso Rock, the country’s seat of power in Abuja, as the 2027 presidential election is about to come to an end.

According to Olu Agunloye, the party’s national secretary, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), seven presidential candidates have been formally aligned in recent years.

“We have ten aspirants for president,” the president said. On Channels Television’s Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political program, the former steel minister said that seven of them are on our platform.

He claimed that the SDP cannot afford to lose any of the interested politicians to other parties, despite not naming the aspirants’ names.

Agunloye reported that Peter Obi, the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, has also approached the SDP to lay the groundwork for the former governor, who has not yet made an official declaration of his intention to join the organization.

The SDP leader remarked, “Obi’s people came to us and said, “Would you take him if Obi comes? ” We assured them, “Yes.” I attended the meeting. Some of them agree with us, saying that you must join SDP while they are setting the stage. You cannot tell us Obi is coming without joining us, or you can’t join us in the Labour Party.

However, Obi may not have any plans or desires to travel. People do all of this, but our position is that we must run our platform well.

SDP: The New Bride or Not?

State of Emergency In Rivers is a picture that Atiku, El-Rufai, Lawal, and the Coalition of Political Leaders reject. twitter.com/v23AuG7l8V

Talks about an inter-party alliance reached their height on Thursday, March 20, 2025, when opposition arrowhead Atiku Abubakar announced a coalition to replace All Progressives Congress (APC) incumbent Bola Tinubu, whose administration has been accused of mismanaging the economy, with unprecedented inflation and unprecedented living costs.

The coalition relies on Atiku and Obi’s recent polls to prove their party’s numerical viability. With combined votes of over 12 million, Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Obi of the Labour Party (LOC) came in second and third, respectively, more than four million more than Tinubu’s total votes, who was chosen by INEC to be the winner.

I spoke to a former state executive immediately after we left the Shehu Yar’Adua Center where we had spoken at a joint press conference of the Coalition of Opposition Political Parties and demanded that Rivers State’s governor reverse the declaration of a state of emergency.

Politicians in the three parties appear to have made the SDP a darling with the plethora of court cases stemming from intra-party disputes and protracted leadership crises that have rocked the PDP and LP, as well as alleged abuse of some APC members.

Agunloye, the party’s national secretary, stated that the party’s “gates are open.” So we’ll take them if they all want to come. He then quickly added that the party would work with the newcomers to unite them and explore their collective strengths in the interests of the party in the upcoming election.

He declared, “We will not allow people to enter the area and sweep the people out.” Because these people have a lot of experience, we must synergize and maximize the opportunities.

You can’t take El-Rufai’s experience away, his expertise away, or his energy, according to El-Rufai, whatever he may want to say. And he has money because anyone who can win elections can get it, whether he can get it from inheritance or not. Therefore, his joining the party is a plus, but we must find a way to collaborate with him.

He bragged that the party is present in all 774 local government areas in Nigeria and that “those who want to come must follow our model.”

What Zone Has the SDP Ticket?

Agunloye said, “I’ve been hearing that Atiku is coming, and I’ve been hearing that.” Since he served as vice president, Akihitu and I have been friends. He didn’t say, “I’m coming, I’m coming,” but he did talk to me about a week or less ago.

He claimed that El-Rufai’s switch from the APC to the SDP increased the party’s membership.

“I’m aware that (Hamza) Al-Mustapha) is coming because he came in to collect our membership card,” he said. El-Rufai and a few of his former associates and commissioners have arrived.

“Several more people called and said they don’t know El-Rufai but that they want to because he’s here.” The party’s secretary is me. You have come, but you have not entered, he said if your name isn’t on our book.

He argued that the SDP must be organized and resolved all the problems that would prevent the party from winning the upcoming election.

Agunloye argued that because of the variety of interests, the SDP’s presidential position for 2027 is delicate and needs to be handled tactfully.

You have to find a balance when you imagine Peter Obi, Atiku, El-Rufai, and Attahiru Bafarawa all standing on the same platform, he said.

The official stated that the party’s organ would decide when to decide whether to zone the party’s 2027 presidential ticket to the southern or northern region.

Source: Channels TV