Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
The zonal leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Supo
Shonibare, has said President Muhammadu Buhari will find it difficult
to return as the nation’s president for second term tenure in 2019.
Shonibare, who is the National Vice Chairman (South-west), said the
level of poverty has increased under Buhari’s leadership and that the
electorate are already disenchanted with his style of governance.
The SDP Chieftain spoke in Ado Ekiti while inaugurating the State
Interim as well as Contact and Mobilisation Committees of the party.
Present at the occasion were party national leaders, led by former
Minister of Education, Prof. Tunde Adeniran.
Former Chairman of the Ekiti Inter-party Advisory Committee (IPAC), Dr
Dele Ekunola, is to chair the 14-man State Interim Committee while
the former Registrar of the Ekiti State University, Chief M.O. Ogundipe,
is to Chair the contact and mobilisation committee.
Shonibare said the party is determined to use the July 14 Ekiti governorship poll as a test case and prelude to the calamity that would befall the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the country in 2019, having allegedly ran the country’s
economy aground via bad policies.
He said: “We are determined to take over Ekiti. And I know it will be easy for us because Nigerians are tired of both APC and PDP.
“Nigerians are suffering. No jobs, no industries , no security, nothing is working and they want to hold onto power, this is impossible.
“I want you to reach out to Ekiti people. Embark on aggressive mobilisation through house-to-house, people-to-people and individual-to-individual to make SDP popular in the southwest like in the core North and North-central.
“We are now a darling party and it will marvel you how the bigwigs in
the two leading parties have been embracing us based on our dignity
and well fashioned policies.
“Tell Ekiti electorate that our vision is to liberate them from the claws of poverty, deprivation, economic recession and for them to live a life of abundance.
“What is the essence of government that can’t provide basic amenities for its citizens, provide jobs and secure their lives? All these social ills we are coming on board to rectify and Ekiti will be
a testing ground in July 14.â€
Shonibare urged the members of the committees to run a transparent and
open door policy, reminding that it would be an herculean task to take over power from an incumbent governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose.
Adeniran pleaded with the party against discrimination that could rip the party apart, saying working in one spirit would enhance cohesion to be able to upstage the APC and PDP in the impending electoral battle.
