The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo, says President Bola Tinubu has “defeated himself” ahead of the 2027 general election, blaming what he called the poor performance of the administration.
Adebayo said the government had failed to adequately tackle poverty, insecurity and other governance challenges facing Nigerians.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, he argued that the administration appeared content to simply complete its four-year tenure rather than deliver the changes Nigerians expected.
He said the government’s performance had weakened the purpose of governance and damaged the President’s re-election prospects.
Adebayo urged Nigerians to focus more on the problems confronting the country than on the personalities in the race, listing poverty, insecurity, poor governance and economic hardship as the issues that should dominate political conversations ahead of the polls.
He said he backed cooperation among political actors but stressed that his priority was uniting Nigerians around solutions, not simply building an alliance of opposition figures. The outcome of the election, he added, would depend largely on voter turnout and public confidence in the electoral process.
On the recent publication of candidates’ particulars, Adebayo said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was only responsible for receiving and displaying information submitted by political parties, not for verifying every credential or determining candidates’ eligibility.
“INEC is our servant. It’s working for the public. INEC is just like the post office,” he said. “Its role is to collect the information submitted by political parties and candidates and make it available to the electorate. It’s not INEC’s job to vet the information.”
He said it was up to the public and other stakeholders to scrutinise candidates’ declarations and challenge any suspected falsehoods through the courts.
Adebayo also dismissed reports of an internal crisis within the SDP, insisting the party’s nomination process was peaceful and transparent. He described the publication of his name by INEC as routine, noting that the commission also released the names of the SDP’s vice-presidential candidate, 109 senatorial candidates and 360 House of Representatives candidates.
He urged Nigerians to look past political speculation and judge candidates on their proposed solutions to the country’s economic, security and governance problems.
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