From Adetutu Folasade-Koyi, Abuja

Presidential flag-bearer of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo, has dismissed reports of any merger or alliance with any political party in the 2023 presidential election.

Adebayo disclosed this at a parley with media executives in Abuja, yesterday. Adebayo insisted that the SDP is not in any alliance or merger talks with any political party, just as he admitted that the party might be an underdog in next year’s presidential elections.

“We’re underdogs, but we will never enter into an alliance or merge with any other party in the current scheme of things,” he said. The presidential candidate said poor governance and endemic corruption are responsible for the lingering face-off between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Adebayo said that Nigeria needed good governance to tackle the problem of insecurity decisively and end the wanton killing of Nigerians in various communities in the country.

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“We should elect a good government that understands our diversity as a nation,” he stated, pointing out that anarchists were currently using terror to create confusion nationwide.

Adebayo alleged that a caucus inside the government profits financially from the menace and as such, they allow it to spread and linger so as to sustain their flow of income from it. Although he admitted that there are pockets of insecurity worldwide, he, however, described that of Nigeria as “annoying, embarrassing and very dangerous if not addressed. The difference between Nigeria and other nations is the inability of the Nigerian government to take drastic measures against offenders to serve as deterrent…”

The SDP presidential candidate has also promised to declare his assets before next year’s elections.

“A good presidential candidate must declare his assets before the election. It’s a challenge. I had that understanding with SERAP and I will declare my assets publicly,” he said.