How I Became a Member of SDP at 19 - Presidential Candidate

The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Prince Adewole Adebayo, shared how he joined the party at 19. He started his political life by putting up campaign posters around Lagos.

He spoke about this during a visit by members of the Young Progressive Professionals to the SDP national secretariat in Abuja.

Adebayo remembered joining the party in 1991 while studying law at the University of Ife, now called Obafemi Awolowo University.

He explained that he decided to join the party after looking into its manifesto. This was after he initially opposed the formation of political parties by the then military government.

He said, “I joined the SDP in 1991 when I was just 19 years old. I was studying law at the University of Ife. I remember how we organised a demonstration when we heard that former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, had formed two political parties. We said, ‘Who is a soldier to form a political party for us?’

“So we demonstrated and appealed that nobody should join these political parties. But then, there was a break, and I returned home to Lagos. I started studying the parties. I read about the NRC. Then I found the manifesto of the Social Democratic Party. After reading it, I no longer cared that the party was formed under the military. I saw that it was a good platform.

“I made an argument and urged others that this is the party we should join. I remember the then NANS national president called me a capitalist. But I ignored him and joined the SDP. I have stayed in the party ever since.”

Adebayo said his first job in the party was to put up political posters in Lagos. He described this experience as part of how he grew in the party.

“When I joined the party, my first assignment was pasting political posters all over Lagos. Given my background, some people saw it as an insult. But I enjoyed it,” he said.

He recalled a recent visit to the home of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. An elderly man recognized him as one of the SDP members who used to paste posters in his area.

“That is how you grow in a political party. This generation must step up and take responsibility for the future of the country,” Adebayo said.

He encouraged young professionals to view themselves as future leaders. He said they are old enough to aim for positions like national chairman, senator, or presidential candidate.

According to him, Nigeria's challenges can be overcome, stating that the country has the resources and people to solve its problems.

“Why I am telling you this long story is that every one of you is old enough to be a national chairman of this party, presidential candidate, or senator. We are the only regional power in the world whose neighbours pray that we get weaker. Our leaders have become complacent.

“You wake up in the morning and hear someone calling himself a leader in Nigeria. No training required. A political party is a university for training leaders,” he said.

Adebayo also criticized the government for issues like poverty, insecurity, unemployment, and lack of electricity. He said that taking care of citizens should be the main job of the government.

He urged Nigerians, especially young people, to keep their hope alive, insisting that Nigeria's problems can be fixed.

“There is no problem Nigeria has that cannot be solved. So, don’t be hopeless. Stop saying our problem cannot be solved. We don’t have one percent of the problems that other countries have. The only difference is that those countries have leaders that attend to them,” he said.

Adebayo advised young Nigerians not to let ethnic, religious, regional, or gender issues divide the country.

The National Chairman of the SDP, Prof. Sadiq Gombe, also spoke. He said the visit from the young professionals showed that young Nigerians still believe in the country.

Gombe noted that the older generation should have passed leadership to the youth but failed because of the current situation.

“If things were going well, I am sure some of us here should have retired and let the youths take the lead. Sadly, this is not the case due to where we find ourselves,” he said.

The SDP chairman urged the young professionals to rally voters for the 2027 general elections. He highlighted the low turnout in the 2023 elections.

“We have almost 100 million registered voters. In the last elections, only 24 million votes were cast,” he said.