Barely two months after the conduct of the Social Democratic Party, SDP primary elections in Kwara State, there has been a strong signal from a party stakeholder in Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state, revealing that some aggressive members are ready to dump the party.
A source who spoke to newsmen on Wednesday confirmed that the crisis erupted following the defeat of some aspirants who contested at the party primaries.
The source added that the way and manner the party elders at the state level are handling the reconciliation process has worsened the situation.
“After the just concluded SDP primaries in Kwara State, there are disgruntled members who felt cheated during the primary elections. The affected members of our party claimed they weren’t carried along in the party affairs even before the loss at the primaries.
“It is obvious that the party elders at the state level are not helping in this matter. They are either complicating the issue. And I am afraid if this continues this way we might not have a united party strong enough to win elections come 2023.
“For instance in Ifelodun we have Comrade Ishola Olateju Olohungbebe, a House of Representatives aspirant who lost to Hon. Saheed Popoola at the primary elections. And after the elections, no elder statesman in the party has reached out to him for reconciliation. In all honesty, the party needs to reach out to many of them like that to avoid massive defection from the party.
“The same thing happened when Professor Oba Abdulraheem lost at the primaries to the SDP gubernatorial candidate, Hakeem Lawal. No party stakeholder planned a reconciliation visit to him. There is no how one will be happy after losing in an election but if there is a mutual talk, there could be a change. And the aspirants can come together to win at the forthcoming 2023 general elections,” the source stated.
When contacted, the Director-General of the Oju-Ilu political movement, Comrade Ahmed Afolabi Saliu said that his principal, Hon. Ishola Olateju accepted defeat and congratulated Hon. Saheed Popoola as the winner of the primary election.
Saliu said, “Since my principal lost at the primaries, he has accepted the defeat in good faith and congratulated the winner of the election. He was not weighed down by the defeat, he moved on and promise to work in alliance with the party’s gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Hakeem Lawal.
“Comrade Olateju has been organizing meetings just to make sure he canvass support for the SDP governorship candidate from Ifelodun Local Government and beyond. He is so much interested in working with Hakeem Lawal because he discovered they both shared similar agendas and goodwill.
“But the only thing I can say would cause setback is how the party is being managed. The party elder statesmen have not called all those that lost at the primary elections together for reconciliation.
“I must be sincere with you, there is a big crisis in the party already. And they need to act fast to stop some members from dumping the party. This is not the time for segmentation, this is time for consultation and reunion. If the party must win in the 2023 general elections, we need to make peace among the members of the party.”
When asked if the founder of the Oju-Ilu Political Movement, Comrade Ishola Olateju will remain in the party, he revealed that he can’t say if the former Rep Aspirant will remain in the SDP or not, stressing that he wanted the party elders to urgently take bold steps to reach out to aggrieved members of the party.