Announcing Adebayo’s victory, the Convention Returning Officer, Umar Ardo, announced that a total of 1,653 votes were cast while valid votes were 1,609 with 44 invalid votes.
A Nigerian lawyer and founder of KAFTAN TV, Prince Adewole Adebayo on Wednesday clinched the presidential ticket of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the 2023 general elections, after polling 1,526 votes to defeat the only co-contestant, Ms. Khadija Lamidi, who had 83 votes at the party’s National Convention in Abuja.
Announcing Adebayo’s victory, the Convention Returning Officer, Umar Ardo, announced that a total of 1,653 votes were cast while valid votes were 1,609 with 44 invalid votes.
The 54-year-old lawyer in his acceptance speech said that his emergence indicates that it was the turn of the Nigerian masses to take over power in 2023.
According to him, it was the turn of the citizens without food, those who graduated without work or were hindered from graduating because of the strike to enjoy the dividends of democracy.
He pledged that the SDP would give the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a tight challenge in 2023.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Adebayo as saying, “We will campaign to every household, every polling unit, every ward, every local government, every state, every zone and the entire country.
“We will come out and show to Nigerians that food, water, electricity, housing, education and medical care are not prayer points.”
He commended other aspirants who contested the position with him, including those that withdrew along the way and the party delegates for not going for money bags politicians or those who want to perpetually remain in power, but voted for a fresh person.
Adebayo called on Nigerians to join the SDP, register with INEC to vote, open their minds, tell others about SDP and vote out bad leaders in 2023, saying that the party had demonstrated that a party could conduct credible convention and that politicians could subdue their personal interest for the national interest.
Speaking on the outcome of the convention, the party National Chairman, Alhaji Shehu Gabam, encouraged those who participated in the election to be part of the campaign, saying it was a joint project.
According to him, the party would change the face and character of governance in Nigeria, if given a chance to rule in 2023.
He said that the party considered it expedient to present itself to Nigerians as a veritable alternative, advocating a new initiative in the administration of the country.
He added that it was time for the country to get it right in the 2023 general elections.