By Dorcas Jonah
Mr Adewole Adebayo, the presidential flag-bearer of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), has ruled out the option of an alliance with any political party for the 2023 presidential elections.
Adebayo made the statement while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Friday.
He said that the party had no plan whatsoever to merge or forge an alliance with any other political party, although the SDP appears to have limited scope and influence in the current political landscape.
“We’re underdogs, but we will never enter into an alliance or merge with any other party in the current scheme of things,” he said, disclosing that the party would soon spring surprises that would amaze political watchers.
He said that the party had come a long way, having won a previous presidential election that was later annulled by a former military ruler, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, in 1993.
According to Adebayo, the SDP is the best party to rescue Nigeria from its current economic, political, and social woes, urging Nigerians to support the party to make a difference in the country.
Commenting on the face-off between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the presidential hopeful argued that poor governance and endemic corruption were central to the continued inability of the feuding parties to resolve their differences to save the education sector.
Adebayo said that if elected president, he would ensure that the government would have no business running universities, noting that the running of universities should be the sole responsibility of universities’ councils.
According to him, universities’ funds should be controlled by governing councils of the universities, a development he said, would give the universities freedom to run their affairs in learning and research.
Adebayo described the recurring ASUU strikes as “a showdown between ASUU and contractors in government’’, lamenting the negative impact of the endless strikes on the future of the nation.
In addition, he said he would increase the number of Unity Schools in Nigeria to 360, to ensure that every Federal Constituency had a unity school to provide quality education to the masses.
On the pervading insecurity in the country, Adebayo said that Nigeria needed good governance to tackle the problem decisively and end the wanton killing of Nigerians in various communities in the country.
“What Nigeria needs is good governance. We should elect a good government that understands our diversity as a nation,” he stated, pointing out that anarchists were currently using terror to create confusion nationwide.
Adebayo lamented what he described as the persistent stealing of Nigeria’s crude oil offshore, saying that money made from oil sales would be housed as special funds to discourage corruption and stealing of such resources.
He said that he would give special attention to ginger farming in the country to generate up to $20 million annually from the product and give employment and sustained livelihood to farmers and the teeming populace.
NAN
