A former leader of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kwara State, Rev. Joshua Olakunle, has been named the deputy governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for next year’s general election.

Rev. Olakunle, who hailed from Ora in Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state, would be running alongside Mr. Hakeem Oladimeji Lawal, the scion of former Governor of Kwara State, Late Muhammed Alabi Lawal, who emerged the governorship flag bearer of the party in its May 31 primaries.

A statement that was issued in Ilorin yesterday and signed by the Chairman of the SDP, Mr. Azeez Afolabi, said that the deputy governorship candidate is a University of Ibadan trained lecturer and clergyman, who rose through the ranks to become a Chief Lecturer at the Kwara State College of Education, Oro, before his retirement in 2008.

The statement said that Olakunle also bagged a Bachelor of Library and Information Science (LIS) and Masters in Religious Studies from the prestigious University of Ibadan in 1983 and 1988 respectively, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from University of Ilorin in 1994.

The statement described him as an “astute academician is a passionate community leader who has served Kwara South socio-cultural groups and Igbomina land.”

He is a member of several sociocultural groups where he has been saddled with leadership responsibilities either as chairman, co-chairman and secretary to committees that has delivered socioeconomic and political projects to various Igbomina communities.

Olakunle has served as Minister-in-Charge at ECWA Church, Apapa, Lagos, and ECWA Church, Agbeku in Ifelodun, Kwara State and is an active member of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) among others.

His political affiliation and experience traversed his membership of the SDP in 1993 and later, Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1999, before moving to the Accord Party and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), where he contested the Kwara State House of Assembly seat in 2015.

He was a national delegate of the PDP in its 2015 convention and re-contested the Kwara State House of Assembly seat under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019, before dumping the party for SDP in 2022.

The statement, therefore, said that Rev. Olakunle, as a deputy governorship candidate, would bring his depth of knowledge, enormous wealth of experience in administration, community service, integrity and leadership in rescuing the state from the clog of inept administrators, when elected into office in 2023.