Prince Adewole Adebayo is the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the 2027 general election. In this interview, he reflects on his emergence as the party’s flagbearer and dismisses concerns about internal divisions within the party, ANAYO EZUGWU reports
How does it feel emerging as the candidate of the SDP for the 2027 presidential election?
It feels good, though challenging. It’s a new opportunity for the country and for the sovereign people of this country who need a good government and a good plan.
The former national chairman of your party is in court and some people say there’s some kind of rift because there are people who are supporters of Shehu Gabam, and now, you have another national chairman. What’s the plan going forward?
I’m in a corner here because I’m a lawyer. Once you start with something being in court, especially someone who is at the risk of losing his liberty and facing a criminal trial, it is unethical for me to comment on it. But I hope the rule of law will work and that there will be political settlement without compromising the need not to encourage criminality or say criminality is politics. So, I think we should just allow the law to take its course.
Away from the court case itself; has this caused some kind of friction in your party?
Not really! From what I know, they are trying to use the disciplinary powers of the party to hold party officials accountable. In doing that, some people won’t be happy about it. Some may even have genuine complaints that certain procedural rights were breached. What we can do is ensure that people follow the constitution of the party.
If you want to discipline somebody, you have to follow the law, and if you are facing disciplinary action, you have to respect it. If you are not satisfied, you can go to the appellate component of it. Institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the police should not take sides; they should do their own duty.
Why is that something, which should have been sorted out within the party was allowed to get to the court
I don’t know why it was not sorted out. But as a lawyer, what I can say is that if someone is alleged to have been involved in misappropriation money and the person has pleaded not guilty in a court of law, what the law expects of me is to presume the person innocent, while the accusers provide evidence. If the law is working the way it should, the person is on bail and attends trial, politics should not interfere.
If we want to solve Nigeria’s problems, we cannot become another Bola Tinubu administration, where people imply that joining the ruling party wipes away sins. If I take sides in favour of the accused because they are politically useful, it means that when I become president, I might influence law enforcement to protect friends.
If I take side with the accusers against someone presumed innocent, then I don’t respect the rule of law. The best thing is to let the law work. Stealing money is not a joke. Breach of trust is not a joke. In the past, people went to prison for N20, while today VIPs loot billions of naira and still receive applause. We should stop that attitude. If money belongs to an institution and you have access to it because of your office, you must be accountable.
Did you speak to those supporters, the ones we saw pulling down the gate of the party’s secretariat?
No. For me, it’s the police that are responsible because you don’t escort criminals to go and pull down gates.
So, they came with the police…
It’s the police that brought them, and the police used them to pull down the gates because they didn’t want to do it themselves. I wasn’t there, so I’m careful. I only saw what was shown on television because I had finished my screening and left before it happened.
The party contacted the Inspector General of Police, who said he would investigate, and also contacted the commissioner of Police. The last time I spoke with party officials, they said they were giving the IGP a few more days to act. If nothing happens, the party will take further action.
What should people know about the SDP? Talk to us about that and what the party stands for when it comes to the Nigerian people…
Without sounding too professorial, SDP is the party that has solutions to our social problems. It’s a party meant for ordinary people. When you wake up in the morning, you think about feeding your family, transport cost, education, food, healthcare, job, survival — those are the issues social democratic parties focus on. That’s why in some countries, they call it the “kitchen table manifesto.” It’s about everyday life.
A social democrat won’t wake up and remove subsidy without thinking about the impact on transport, food, housing, jobs and people’s savings. But if you are the All Progressives Congress (APC), your focus is on winning elections and congratulating yourselves afterward.
The SDP focuses on social progress. Nigeria is a country where most people are poor and cannot afford basic hygiene, nutrition, education or safety. So, we need a political party focused on solving those problems, not one built around ethnicity or religion.
We are concerned with how government can help people achieve their aspirations. We know the education failure rates in many states are terrible, and in some places children don’t go to school at all. Politics should solve these problems. APC treats education and food as personal problems until election season comes around.
You are a consensus candidate as you didn’t have any opponent. Were there people holding grudges against you in your party?
No, I don’t think so. The party understands three things. First, we are facing an incumbent government, so we cannot afford internal struggles. Second, we are fundamentally an ideological party, so it’s not about personality triumphs.
You are from the South-West geopolitical zone; how do you intend to beat President Tinubu, who is also from the zone?
I don’t know about Tinubu personally.
A lot of people say it isn’t wise to field someone from the South-West against Tinubu…
We don’t think like that in SDP. A hungry per son in the South-West is still hungry. Someone buying petrol at outrageous prices won’t care about regional identity. A student taking loans to attend schools with unpaid lecturers and empty laboratories won’t remember that the president is from the South-West.
Other political parties have complained about the APC sending moles into their parties to destabilize them. Did SDP experience that?
Yes, but we are dealing with that. It is the desire of President Tinubu to be the only person in the race. But this is not new. PDP governments also attacked opposition parties during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s era.
Were you able to identify the moles in your party?
They will always exist. The important thing is leadership and helping people understand that transactional politics may give temporary benefits, but the long-term consequences are dangerous for the country.
So, you don’t want to give details…
I don’t run the party directly. I’m the presidential candidate and ambassador of the party, but the party has elected officials who manage operations. My role is ideological and philosophical.
I was looking at some of the things you said you would deliver, especially education. We are seeing changes in the education system — lower cut-off marks, shortened NCE routes, and so on. Some say this lowers standards, while others say it increases access. Would you keep these reforms if elected?
These are not reforms; they are deformations. The lowest-quality people are in government and they want standards to fall because an educated population asks questions and challenges bad governance.
If you look at the controversies around the educational qualifications of some leaders, you’ll see that they are producing people like themselves. Education creates critical thinking beyond ethnicity and religion.
There are also conversations about the unemployability of Nigerian youths. How would you tackle that as president?
The solution is not difficult. In our time, public schools kept students occupied productively from morning till evening. We had physical education, extra-curricular, prep classes, and exam coaching. Society must occupy young people constructively from childhood.
Would you continue the students’ loan scheme initiated by the Tinubu administration?
Student loans are a crime. The students’ loan scheme is a crime. Yes. It’s a crime against the constitution and against the people.
Are you saying that you scrap a scheme, which many students say they are happy with?
No, they are not. Why should students borrow money for education if education is supposed to be free, compulsory, and qualitative? Members of the National Assembly didn’t take loans for their own education.
They enjoyed free education. So, education should be free because if you don’t invest in your people, you destroy your society. You will turn scientists into taxi drivers. You destroy civilization, and insecurity grows because the people who should become innovators are abandoned. That is the kind of society APC is creating.
