By Eteteonline
Chief Moshood Abiola, the SDP presidential flagbearer, denied assertions made by Chief Arthur Nzeribe and claimed that the party’s Jos convention, which designated him as flagbearer, was free and fair.
All SDP delegates who cast ballots for Abiola on the first and second ballots at the national convention did so voluntarily, according to a statement from Mr. Femi Oredein, Deputy Director of Information for the Abiola for President Campaign Organization.
Abiola became the flagbearer because, prior to the convention, he had put in a lot of effort and supplemented it with state visits to meet SDP leaders, members, and delegates, persuading them that he was the most qualified candidate.
At a news conference in Lagos, he urged Nigerians to ignore Nzeribe’s appeal for the party’s presidential primary results to be canceled, pointing out that Abiola became the party’s flagbearer after winning the Jos primary.
“Chief Nzeribe should participate and contribute his efforts towards an SDP victory, personified by Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola.”
He said that prominent figures, including as Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), who stated that the NEC was “satisfied with the general outcome of the convention of the SDP and NRC,” had largely acknowledged the SDP national convention as free and fair.
According to the statement, Nzeribe wrote in a full-page advertisement in a national daily said, “Now that Chief M.K.O. Abiola has been chosen by the majority of delegates as our (SDP) flagbearer, we should, as good party men and women, rally around him and ensure the victory of our party over the NRC in the presidential elections in June 1993.”
The testimony concurred with Nzeribe’s advertisement claim that the SDP convention was a family affair and that most SDP delegates thought Abiola could win the SDP election and that they elected him as flagbearer without compulsion, intimidation, or inducement.
“Chief Nzeribe, as a leader of SDP, has spent time, energy, and money to build the SDP. He should not at this eleventh hour do anything that can disrupt the SDP or the transition program of the Federal Government,” with a call on Nzeribe to join and help the SDP win.
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