After 13 prospective parties were banned by the administration of Ibrahim Babangida in 1989, some of the associations decided to re-align. The People's Front of Nigeria, People's Solidarity Party, and the Nigerian Labor Party emerged to form the core constituency of the new SDP. The leadership was mostly dominated by Northern Nigerians.
Babagana Kingibe was elected party chairman in 1990 over his rival
Mohammed Arzika. Despite the dominance of Northern Nigerians, the party's strength lay in the
Igbo people in the states of
Imo and
Anambra. The party won 57% of Senate seats and 53% of House of Representatives seats in the 1992 National Assembly election. The party was primarily financed by the Nigerian government and wealthy individuals such as
Shehu Musa Yar'Adua,
Francis Nzeribe and
M.K.O. Abiola. In its first presidential primary,
Yar'Adua garnered about 480,000 votes, dominating his primary opponent,
Olu Falae in the first round. Those elections were then canceled by Babangida. In the second primary election under an adopted system called
Option A4, another financier, Abiola (a former member of the
National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons and once a state chairman of the
National Party of Nigeria), won the primary in March 1993. Abiola then contested the national election, which was also annulled by Babangida. Former members include
Atiku Abubakar,
Jerry Gana,
Abubakar Rimi,
Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso,
Shehu Yar'Adua,
Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila,
Dapo Sarumi,
Sule Lamido,
Magaji Abdullahi,
Tony Anenih,
Lamidi Adedibu,
Albert Legogie,
Iyorchia Ayu,
Fidelis Tapgun,
Boss Mustapha,
Bola Tinubu,
Asiwaju Kayode Blessing and
Mohammed Arzika. Later some of the members became senior figures in the
People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Jerry Gana returned to SDP in 2018. == Manifesto ==