I withdrew election petition to protect my family — Ex-Ekiti gov candidate

I withdrew election petition to protect my family — Ex-Ekiti gov candidate

The Social Democratic Party candidate in the June 20, 2026, Ekiti State governorship election, Isaac Alade, withdrew his petition challenging Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s victory despite opposition from his party. In this interview with YUSUF OKETOLA, he explains why he abandoned the case

Why did you withdraw your petition challenging Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s victory?

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

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 then, I contacted some of my leaders to ask about their preparations for me as the candidate facing the state government, but 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.

We also needed a genuine reason to challenge the victory of the sitting governor. I looked at the situation and did not see a concrete reason to pursue the case.

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.

Did you consult the SDP leadership before withdrawing?

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.

I remember telling our presidential candidate, Adebayo Adewole, on the second day of the election, when he was raising some complaints, that there were serious deficiencies in our preparation before the election.

I said it was like going to a war front without the necessary armour. You cannot go into a battle against people you know and expect to succeed with a stick.

As a party, we did not prepare adequately for the election. Our preparations were too poor. It was almost by grace that we participated because we knew we were not sufficiently prepared.

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

In fact, one of the witnesses the SDP presented in court could not identify my name as the flag bearer of the party. I knew such a mistake could happen because of what I had been saying about our level of preparation.

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.

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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.

The SDP opposed your withdrawal and said it would continue with the case. What is your position?

There is nothing much I can say about that. 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.

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.

If we were not adequately present at the polling units, how can we now claim to have concrete evidence to sustain the petition?.

Do you still believe there were irregularities in the election?

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.

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?.

The party told me it had filed a case against the Ekiti State Government, but it never showed me the evidence to sustain the petition. Nobody called me to explain what we were going to prove happened during the election or where I was expected to come in.

When I looked at everything, I realised that perhaps the people handling the matter did not know what they were doing.

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.

Do you think your withdrawal could affect the SDP’s legal challenge?

I cannot say. What I did was to protect myself and my family because of what I considered the party’s nonchalant attitude towards my safety.

Before going to the tribunal, I believe the party should have consulted me. But that did not happen.

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.

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

Has the ruling party or any SDP leader reached out to you since your withdrawal?

No. Maybe they will still do so, but as of now, nobody has contacted me.

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.

Only a few loyalists checked on me. When I say certain people did not call, I mean the party leaders I expected to reach out to me.

Are you still committed to the SDP, or could you move to another party?

I am fully in the SDP, but I am waiting for God to answer my prayer for the resources I need.

In politics, you need money. Once that is settled, you can go ahead.

If anyone says that anybody looking for money in politics should stay away, that person does not understand what politics entails.

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.

What are your plans ahead of 2027?

All eyes are now on our presidential candidate. People want to see what he can do, beginning with the campaign programme.

I predict that our candidate cannot take his campaign to every state. If he fails to do that, how will people in those states know that the SDP has a presidential candidate?.

That was part of what affected us in the Ekiti governorship election. 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.