The Social Democratic Party (SDP) Wednesday stated that it was ready to offer itself as a vehicle for national movement to rescue Nigeria from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The party dismissed any thought of merger with any other political party or any alliance with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This was contained in statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Ambassador Rufus Aiyenigba, which noted that the political relationship with President Tinubu ended in 1992, when he won the seat of Lagos Senate on the platform of SDP.
The statement urged those associating SDP with President Tinubu to stop forthwith.
It would be recalled that the former governor of Kaduna state, Mallam Nasiru El-rufai had recently joined the SDP as a national movement to rescue Nigeria.
Dismissing the insinuations that SDP was being financed by President Tinubu, Aiyenigba said, “The national leadership of our great party, the Social Democratic Party, has in the past days, been inundated with calls and expressions of concern about the reckless and mischievous statements credited to some individuals, suggesting that President Tinubu owns and funds the Social Democratic Party.
“Initially, we chose not to dignify the preposterous claims of those political jobbers, attention and patronage-seeking likes of Mr Joe Igbokwe, Alhaji Buba Galadima, Y.Y. Sani and Alhaji Salihu Lukman, with any response so as not to make their false claim have any semblance of importance, but upon deep reflection and considering the preponderance of calls from well-meaning patriots, we have decided to respond as follows:
“That the SDP is a national political party that runs on the provisions of its constitution and operates a people-centered ideology.
“There is no individual who owns the SDP, and there is no godfather anywhere to whom the party reports, Nigerians own the party.
“That beyond the undeniable fact that the SDP provided the foundation upon which the glorious political career of President Tinubu is built, having provided him the platform to contest and win the Senate seat of Lagos-west along with Senator Kofoworola Akerele- Buknor and Senator Anthony Adefuye in the aborted 3rd Republic.”