THE Social Democratic Party, SDP, acronym is not entirely new in the South West  due to its fame in 1993 when the late business mogul , Chief MKO Abiola contested and won as the President of Nigeria,  but, the result was annulled.

Apart from this, the SDP called the shots in  Ogun State between  January  1992 and  November 1993 before the  administration of General   Sani  Abacha interrupted the political arrangement  on 17 November 1993.

Since then, the  SDP had  become a household name in politics in the  region and infact in the entire country. But, it’s fame was cut short when the military regime disbanded the SDP and the National Republican Convention, NRC .

History had  it that, both  the  SDP and the  NRC were  decreed  around 1992  by the military government  to develop national consensus and consciousness .

The  SDP  then was deemed a little to the left, the  NRC  a little to the right. Both parties encompassed different personalities who  included; late Umar Yar’Adua, Olu Falae , Adamu Ciroma and Umaru Shinkafi among others.

After the military onslaught on the parties and democracy during the period, the SDP lost its fame in the South West as the region embraced a fresh party then, the Alliance for Democracy, AD.

This defunct party was branded Yoruba party and enjoyed wide acceptance within the shore of Yoruba speaking states.

The AD metamorphosed to Action Congress  and later became Action Congress of Nigeria which has now metamorphosed into  All Progressives Congress.

But, the recent crisis in the APC in some states in the region led to the  rebirth  of SDP.

In Ogun State,  for example, a  former governor of Ogun State,  Aremo Segun Osoba became aggrieved following the manner with which  he was reportedly treated by some leaders of the party during the crisis between him and his estranged godson, the governor of the state,  Senator  Ibikunle Amosun.

Osoba was reported to have floated a fresh party,  Action Group of Nigeria,  but, was reportedly scuttled at the point of registration  by his political rivals. This development reportedly prompted him to adopt SDP which was said to have been registered by a former Presidential  candidate on the platform of Alliance for  Democracy,  Chief Olu Falae.

Alliance against the APC

An unconfirmed report however,  has it that  the new SDP was registered by a former governor who was in the PDP,  but  reportedly conceded the platform to Falae and Osoba.

Checks by Vanguard revealed that some Yoruba leaders who were aggrieved with APC include;  Olu Falae, Segun Osoba, Chief Ajayi Olaniwun, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and a host of others formed alliance against the APC.

The alliance was hinged on the fact that,  APC has failed the people of the region in its promises.

The APC which prides itself with the legacies of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was accused of abandoning  the Awo’s ideal.

A chieftain of the SDP and a serving member of House of Representatives,  Adekunle  Adeyemi described the SDP as a new progressives platform.

He said the APC has failed to sustain the core value of the South West which he said was qualitative free education . Adeyemi took on APC government on the area of construction of model school describing it as totally different from Awolowo’s legacy.

He said,  Awolowo believed in neighbourhood,  pupils should not be far from their parents, the idea of  model schools is not known as Awolowo legacy.

Apart from this accusation, the aggrieved Yoruba leaders  believed that the former governor of Lagos State  and national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has turned the party into his personal asset and used it to achieve  his personal aggrandisement.

Personal aggrandisement

These  aggrieved elders  in the region felt that they have been  left out in the  scheme  of things in the region. So, the struggle for  political relevance  among others seem to have  propelled  them to launch SDP as an alternative platform of progressives.

The Yoruba leaders have launched the party in three states where governorship elections would take place this year. Apart from Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states  where  governorship  election was not going to take place in  this year, SDP has been positioned in  the remaining states such as Ogun, Oyo and Lagos states where the governorship election will hold.

SDP in Ogun state: In Ogun State, Osoba launched the party which he claimed has 50,000 registered members. He  also said he was targeting 500,000 votes ahead of the coming election.

Osoba alongside his followers including  all the three serving Senators, six members of House of Representatives,  two  members of House of Assembly  and other loyalists  dumped APC for SDP.

All of these serving senators and lawmakers are contesting on the platform of the SDP.

As at today,  SDP is a party to beat in the state as both the leaders and the members seem not to be taking chances with the election.

It was gathered that, Osoba is seeing this election as his likely last political battle for relevance, following the crisis he had with Amosun.

The former governor was reportedly persuaded in 2011 to allow Amosun run on the platform of ACN despite the presence of the array of aspirants who had already lined up for  the position before Amosun came on board from the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party.

Osoba was reported to have described  the February  election as a political war which he said  deserved serious commitment.

As part of his plans to win the election, Osoba  had announced an Awori man  as the governorship candidate of the party to slug it out with Amosun.

Vanguard learnt that,  the choice of  Senator Akin Odunsi,  a serving Senator from Ogun West as the SDP governorship candidate was carefully made to weaken the stronghold of Amosun.

Latest statistics

Ado-Odo/Ota local government where most Awori people reside  has the largest votes in the state.

Findings have shown that, in all the three Senatorial districts in the state, Ogun Central has the largest votes power.

According to latest statistics,  Ogun Central which has six local governments produced 58 per cent of the votes cast in 2011 while both Ogun East and West shared the remaining 42 per cent.

Amosun is a product of Ogun Central  and he is seen as being favoured by the statistics but, the recent  development seems to be shaking the expected victory of Amosun in the coming election.

Osoba’s factor is said to be threatening the total acceptance of Amosun in the central. Osoba who hailed from Obafemi-Owode is believed to be a strong factor in the rural areas of the state.

Some of his programmes were concentrated on rural areas when he held the sway as governor of the state.

Amosun whose presence was greatly felt in the urban centre is said to be banking on his popularity among the rural dwellers who constituted the largest number of voters in the state.

A reliable source told our correspondent that,  there is disquiet in the APC following the alleged swell of membership of the SDP which was flouted three months ago.

According to the findings, the leadership of APC had persuaded Osoba  to jettison the idea of flouting new party,  but, the plea was rejected.

Both Osoba and Amosun are set to test their popularity in the state in this election.

As it is, both SDP and APC have renewed their hostility, trading  words over alleged plan to rig the coming general elections.

The APC in the state  had accused the SDP of planning to rig the coming election  going due to a  statement made by the leader of the party  and a former governor of the state,  Aremo Segun Osoba that   his party was targeting 500,000 votes.

Osoba had penultimate  Wednesday, at the party’s mega rally, held in Abeokuta, said that  his party had registered 50,000 members and had charged them to talk to 10 persons each,  saying he was  targeting about 500, 000 eligible voters in the elections.

But , reacting to the statement,  the  Director-General of Senator Ibikunle Amosun Campaign Organisations,Chief  Bode Mustapha said Osoba and his SDP are not popular to garner such huge votes.

According to Mustapha, “here is a party, the SDP that could not even garner marginal support from its campaign at Itoku market amongst other parts of the state capital. Perhaps, there are high and mighty plans underhand to rig these elections?.

“What kind of mysterious, magical stunt does Chief Osoba have under his hat that will automatically produce a half-million votes out of nothing or from clear blue skies when the whole world already knows that neither he or his party possesses the support to command even a fraction of that amount of votes from any ward in any part of Ogun State.

“Ideally, Chief Osoba should be patient enough to test his popularity at the polls”, he said.

But  a chieftain of the party and a serving Senator from Ogun East,  Senator Gbenga Kaka said APC is jittery over the popularity of the SDP.

Kaka  urged the leaders of the APC to wait for the day of elections and see whether SDP is popular or not.

He said “ We are popular. We don’t hire crowd. People came out of  their volition to attend our rallies. They don’t need to be worried. They should not be panicky or jittery. We are three weeks to the elections, they should wait to know whether we are popular or not”.

Amosun while reacting to the SDP flag-off said,  he had never lost sleep because of the party.

He said, SDP does not have the required  resources  and popularity to dislodge him from office in the coming election.

The governor however,  claimed that he had to rescue some of the members of SDP from the people who wanted to attack them.

According to Amosun,  “I don’t want to end my political career like this,  imagine, the people were shouting thief and pelting them  with sachet water  during their flag-off in Abeokuta.

“I am popular. I know I am  loved by the people and I will be re-elected.  People are happy with us,  they are happy with our programmes. They will vote for us”, Amosun said .

SDP in other states:

Ondo:

The  Social Democratic Party,SDP, has a conspicuous presence in Ondo State, where its National Chairman, Chief Olu Falae hails from.

The party conducted its primary election to field candidates into the National Assembly and  State House of Assembly.

A rally held in Akure had delegates from  the 18 Local Government Areas of the  state.

Oyo:

In Oyo State, Oluseyi Makinde emerged as the party’s governorship flag-bearer at the primaries.

The unveiling of Makinde and his running mate, Alhaji Suleiman Adediran was done at a mega rally in Ibadan.

Other contestants for various offices were also unveiled at the forum.

Makinde is also confident that SDP would emerge victorious in the polls.

‘’We are doing a lot to introduce the party. And of course, the SDP was used as a political party in 1993. So, it is not something totally new. And people also recognize the fact that the freest and fairest election ever conducted in this country was won by the SDP. I will probably say, we have turned a full circle. But Oyo being a pace-setter State, I will not be surprised that we are the one projecting this,’’ he noted.

The party’s support base in the state was recently boosted by the defection of the supporters of Sen Rashid Ladoja.

Lagos:

The Lagos State chapter of the party was launched last year at a ceremony where SDP  was described as the third force in the nation’s political terrain.

Addressing party supporters at the event, Falae said all  parties without ideology would fade away.

He said: “By the grace of God, SDP will control Ogun  State House of Assembly. We will win many seats in Lagos and across the South West states.”

While confirming Chief Supo Shonibare, as chairman of the party in Lagos, he, however, urged party members in the South West to ensure that they contest in all elective positions in Lagos state.

Former Ogun State governor, Chief Segun Osoba, who was represented by Sen. Gbenga Kaka said that SDP is the party to beat in 2015.

Osoba described the SDP as the fastest growing party in Ogun State and Nigeria saying, “we will return all our candidates in the 2015 polls.”

Osun:

The party contested and lost the last governorship election in Osun State.

It’s candidate, a former Head of Service in the  state, Olusegun Akinwusi became the SDP sole candidate among other three contenders after fulfilling all the procedures.