The Oyo State chapter of the Social Democratic Party SDP), on Thursday, adopted the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Teslim Folarin, as its candidate for the gubernatorial election on March 18.
The party made the disclosure after an emergency state Congress which held on Thursday, in Ibadan, the state capital.
The meeting which reviewed the performances of the party in the last Presidential and National Assembly elections saw members of the party from across the 33 local government areas agreeing to a coalition.
The state Chairman of the party, Mr. Micheal Okunlade, lamented that in the last 46 months governance has become something else in the state, noting that Governor Makinde has succeeded in rolling back the achievements of past governments and returned the state to the locust years.
He maintained that to right the wrongs inflicted on the state by Makinde, the party decided to form a virile coalition with a party that can dislodge an administration which he described as showing itself to be lacking in development, disclosing that after many meetings involving major stakeholders the party decided to adopt Folarin, as the candidate to support during the March 18 election.
Okunlade however said candidates of the party in the House of Assembly election are still in the race and must be supported by members of the party, stating that the party is still intact in the state with all its structure as it has no plan to dissolve into the APC or any other party.
According to him, “Our decision is not based on anything than the development of our dear state. Folarin has the record and he is not someone who would promise what he would not do as he is as straight as that.
“However I would like to enjoin all of us who are committed members of SDP to go out en masse and vote for our House of Assembly candidates on March 18. The support for APC is just for the governorship and it ends at that.”
While urging for caution in the agreement to be reached with the APC, members however expressed confidence that the coalition will be in the interest of the party and its members.
The party leaders from the various local government areas, in their separate remarks, said the ruling government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Governor Seyi Makinde, has been a woe, stating that the mission of the party should be ousting the administration because of the betrayal meted to the party after the 2019 coalition which brought in Makinde as governor.
Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan
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