The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has cautioned the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) against the use of national assets for rallies, election campaign or using them to promote its candidates across the country.
The Director-General of SDP Presidential Campaign Council, Solomon Dalung, gave the advice at a news conference in Abuja.
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Dalung said the use of national assets, including aircraft, for a candidate would amount to abuse of power.
He said that does not mean that the incumbent should be denied of his office privileges, but that when such is being used to the advantage of a candidate, others should also benefit.
The former Minister of Sports during President Muhammadu Buhari’s first tenure also urged Buhari to live by his words of promising to deliver free and fair 2023 elections.
“Presidential Campaign should not turn rally to comedy. The issues are too much to be turned to fun fair. Parties should account for their stewardship. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should compare their 16 years to that of the APC’s eight years in power so that Nigeria can see the difference. The APC should tell Nigerians what they have done in terms of infrastructural development and others,” Dalung said.
He urged Nigerians not to vote on sentiment but vote for candidate with practical solutions, which he said the SDP Presidential Candidate, Prince Adewole Adebayo represents.
“Our candidate (Adebayo) has practical solutions to challenges confronting Nigeria and is already engaging Nigerians with practical solutions to problems of poverty, unemployment, insecurity and others.
“SDP is not worried by rented crowd turning to violence. Our method of engagement fundamentally is differ from what is being employ by others. We have gotten considerable approval of Nigerians who believes in our president candidate and his practical solutions to the problems of Nigeria.
“Nigerians should not vote any president base on sentiments, whether on religion or ethnicity. We should elect president that has practical solutions to our problems,” Dalung said.
He also said Adebayo and the party had no plan of stepping down for any party or candidate in the 2023 presidential election, because Adebayo has something superior to offer.
He said, “A first class student cannot step down for a third-class student. Adebayo has proved beyond reasonable doubt that as young as he is, he knows this country problems and he has practical solutions to them.”
Dalung, however, raised alarm on plot to use criminal allegations against Adebayo, urging those involve desist from such action.
He said that information available to that the campaign council revealed that some people were being recruited to fabricate criminal allegations to either implicate or drag Adebayo into blackmails or harass him.
“Adebayo is an Ondo prince. He has an impeccable background; he has clean records of background because he had lived in different parts of the world where he left with clean record. Therefore, going the extra mile trying to frustrate our campaign council will not work. All those doing so should desist from it. Deploying gorilla tactic to undermine our candidate will not work,” Dalung said.
