I withdrew my petition to protect my family, Ex-Ekiti governor candidate

The candidate of the Social Democratic Party in the June 20, 2026, Ekiti State governorship election, Isaac Alade, has pulled out his petition against Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s win. He did this despite pushback from his party. In this chat with YUSUF OKETOLA, he shares why he decided to drop the case.

Alade said, "My withdrawal was based on personal decisions, particularly considerations about my wife, children, and security."

He explained, "I live in Ekiti, and we decided to face the state government. That would require adequate security provisions for myself and my family, but the party did not make sufficient preparations for that."

Before withdrawing, Alade reached out to some party leaders for updates about security plans. He said, "They refused to take my calls. I had to rethink the whole thing and concluded that it was not worth putting my life and that of my family at risk."

He also mentioned that there was no solid reason to challenge the governor's victory. Alade said, "I looked at the situation and did not see a concrete reason to pursue the case."

He added, "It is not about what I want to gain now. I still have many years ahead of me in politics, and I have to consider the future and the lives of my children. Security was the most important factor in my decision to withdraw."

When asked if he was pressured, he said, "No, I did not. It was a personal decision. At the initial stage, I was not even informed that we were going to court until the petition had already been filed. I was surprised when I heard about it."

Alade recalled telling the SDP's presidential candidate, Adebayo Adewole, about issues during their preparations. He said, "I remember telling him that there were serious deficiencies in our preparation before the election."

He compared their readiness to going into a battle without proper gear, saying, "You cannot go into a battle against people you know and expect to succeed with a stick."

He stressed that the party did not prepare well for the election, saying, "Our preparations were too poor. It was almost by grace that we participated because we knew we were not sufficiently prepared."

He pointed out, "Everything we needed to put in place was not there. So, why were we fighting?"

Alade mentioned that one witness the SDP brought to court could not even identify him as the party's candidate. He said, "I knew such a mistake could happen because of what I had been saying about our level of preparation."

He continued, "You can imagine the situation. The case could even end there. That was another reason I withdrew because I could not stay and defend something I knew we had not properly prepared for."

He added, "We did not campaign adequately. There was no sufficient public awareness to inform the people of Ekiti that the SDP was participating in the governorship election."

When asked about the party's plans, he said, "If they believe they can continue, they should go ahead. If I am called today to justify my withdrawal, I will appear and explain my reasons."

He stated, "I am a Christian. I cannot lie. Ekiti has more than 2,000 polling units, and I know how many agents we tried to gather."

He raised concerns about irregularities, saying, "When you talk about irregularities, you have to be there and know what happened. You have to participate fully and monitor the polling units before you can confidently identify what went wrong."

He concluded, "As things stand, the SDP can continue with its case, but nobody in the party can simply say the election was rigged or manipulated without concrete evidence. Were they there? Did they monitor the polling units?"

Alade said the party informed him about filing a case against the Ekiti State Government but did not show him proof to support the petition. He said, "Nobody called me to explain what we were going to prove happened during the election or where I was expected to come in."

He felt that the people handling the case were not competent. He said, "Sometimes, I called them to ask crucial questions and they ignored my calls. Those were some of the reasons I could not continue with them on the case."

Alade emphasized, "What I did was to protect myself and my family because of what I considered the party’s nonchalant attitude towards my safety."

He believed the party should have consulted him before going to the tribunal. He said, "After the case was filed, I was not shown the evidence to prove that the election was badly conducted or that INEC regulations were violated."

He pointed out, "They did not call me until a few hours before the case. When I saw the attitude, I decided to move on and withdraw."

He also mentioned that no one has contacted him since his withdrawal. Alade said, "That is where I think my party lacks political experience. Even from my state, nobody has reached out to me. They are expecting me to call them. Do they think I am a fool for voluntarily withdrawing from the case? It would belittle me to do that."

He remains committed to the SDP but is waiting for better resources. He said, "In politics, you need money. Once that is settled, you can go ahead."

Alade expressed that politics requires financial support. He said, "If anyone says that anybody looking for money in politics should stay away, that person does not understand what politics entails."

He noted, "It is a pity that I heard such a statement from one of my leaders. Even if the person does not have money, he should not say that publicly because such comments discourage people."

Finally, he spoke about the party's presidential candidate, saying, "All eyes are now on our presidential candidate. People want to see what he can do, beginning with the campaign programme."

He predicted that the candidate may not be able to campaign in every state. He said, "If he fails to do that, how will people in those states know that the SDP has a presidential candidate?"

Alade concluded, "If you do not have the capacity for a position, do not go near it. But once you have the opportunity, give it everything you have. Do not waste people’s time. If things do not eventually go your way, people will still commend you for your efforts."