The candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 presidential election, Prince Adewole Adebayo, speaks on the recent bloodbath in Plateau and the call for self-defence by a prominent Nigerian amongst other issues.
In an interview with Subair Mohammed, the leader of one of the leading opposition parties in the country, described Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a product of bad politics.
On the killings in Benue and Plateau, you have advised Mr. President to re-strategise the security architecture to address insecurity in the country. Is it about funding? Are you talking about his service chiefs or his ministers of defence?
You see, he is the Commander-in-Chief. All other people that you are mentioning are his appointees. He is the only one given the constitutional duty to secure us. So, he is the one who appointed the service chiefs. He is the one who appointed the IG of Police, DG of DSS and other services, and he is the one who chose, of all Nigerians, a particular person as his national security adviser. He is the one supervising them, so he is the one that is going to read all the security reports.
More prominent Nigerians are saying it is time for Nigerians to defend themselves. Someone like T.Y. Danjuma asked Nigerians to be fully armed in self-defence against insecurity. But has Nigerians’ level of insecurity reached a point where citizens should resort to self-defence? No, self-defence is a right under the Constitution, but to resort to self-defence as a government policy is an abdication of duty.
Because what you need to do is to articulate the security justice and align them with community effort, and to essentially gather intelligence, advanced intelligence. Self-defence can lead to recklessness because everybody can kill somebody. Even this terrorist will kill somebody and say they are acting in self-defence. I’m not saying General T.Y. Danjuwai is not a good soldier, but I think that’s not a policy that I would adopt.
How has it been receiving new entrants into the SDP? Are you in any way threatened by this?
Not in any way. The position of the party is that every Nigerian who believes in it is welcome to join. And others who are not even involved in politics at all, who want to participate in politics, should come and join. That is the position that I am following. That is the directive of the leadership of the party; anyone and everyone who loves Nigeria is welcome to join the party, and that is where I stand.
Of course, some people who are joining the party are of special interest to the media or other interests. And the message that we are giving to the public and to those who are joining the party is the same. It is not targeted at any person. It is a general directive to everyone that when you are coming to the SDP, you should pay attention to the Nigerian constitution.
Pay particular attention to chapter two of the constitution, a fundamental objective and directive principle of state policy that states how we should govern ourselves and avoid the misgovernance that we are seeing now.
Then, they should also pay attention to the constitution of the SDP, because we take this constitution seriously. The SDP is not like other parties, where they are coming from, where they violate their constitutions at will. In the SDP, since I joined the party, I have rarely seen any instance where any officer or institution of the party or group of members is trying to violate the constitution.
Thirdly, they should look at the manifesto of the party. It is basically for the welfare of the people. That is why we ran on a farewell to poverty and insecurity. That is the focus of the SDP.
Recently, you asserted that Nigerians will shock the establishment and the powers that be. Can you expatiate on this?
Well, what we see is that in every government, including this one, there’s always this fear of incumbency. People always say, oh, it cannot be done. Of course, until 2015, when the APC came and it was done. So, that’s one part of it. And the other part is that there is a crop of politicians who find themselves in a position by accident. When they set out in politics, they are part of the establishment. But the establishment is getting tinier because of the greed of the establishment. They are not baking a larger cake for the country, and their greed is increasing. So, some don’t even get anything at all. So, once those people have been excluded from the stolen buffet, they now become the opposition. As of today, what is clear is that any opposition that is genuine and people see that genuineness and credibility, that opposition will defeat the incumbent any day. In 2015, the marauders of Nigerian politics realised that nobody would listen to them.
So they fetched former President Buhari, who had captured the imagination of the poor masses of the vast swathe of northern Nigeria. So, people bought into that. Now in 2027, the pathway for opposition is to first define what opposition is all about. The fact that you’re falling off the wagon, or you have been disfavoured by the establishment doesn’t make you an opposition, it makes you unemployed. The critical contradiction in opposition politics in Nigeria is that we now have many people whose opposition consists of changing only the incumbent without changing the system. They want to change the party in power without changing politics, whereas the party in power is not the cause of the problem in Nigeria. The party in power is a product of the problem because it is only bad politics. Only bad politics can produce a President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for Nigerians. He’s a product of bad politics.
Are you still interested in being the standard-bearer of the SDP in 2027?
Yes, that’s God’s grace. Only God knows tomorrow, but I’m highly interested, and our members are interested, and everyone who has been in the party before, who is joining the party, that’s a fact. It’s as constant as saying that there are seven days in a week. So people know that, alright.
But you said you’re willing to step down for a stronger candidate. What led to the change of decision in a space of one month?
What I have said to the media is that it is not about me. My interest in serving the country is not unknown to anyone. But my waking up in the morning, breathing, working for my party, and working for the country is not just about me. It’s about the people of Nigeria who are suffering. And I said that if there is any person whom God says is going to be able to solve the problem of Nigeria better than me, I don’t pray that my own ambition should stop that person.
I, personally, haven’t seen such a person yet. And I’m not closing my eyes to any person. What I’m saying is that as a person, I believe that Nigeria is not so unfortunate that I will be the only patriot in the country, and I’m the only good man in the country. I’m doing my best for my country, and I’m offering myself, but in the course of time, if there is anybody that is also a patriot and is there only for the people, and I believe that this person is good, I will support him.
And I’m not going to sabotage the contest. If God says that’s the person who is going to defeat me, I’m not going to sabotage the person or work against the person. As for bullying, I don’t know. Who is to bully who? I don’t think anybody who says that knows me at all. And in the SDP, we don’t use bully tactics anyway. The key issue is that those who are coming to our party are welcome. Those who have ambition, we’ve advised them.
The party will be fair, reasonable and transparent. And the party is not going to say, oh, because you have just joined the party, you stand no chance. No, the party will go through a transparent process. If you can pass away the delegate, persuade the leaders of the party and the members that you are better than the other person, you have an equal chance.
We don’t use bribery. We don’t rig delegates. We don’t have double lists. We don’t do double nominations. We don’t do all these other wrong things that other parties are used to. This country is in a lot of trouble. It shouldn’t be. And let us allow the best talent to come out. And I’ve offered myself.
The national chairman of the SDP, Shehu Gabam, had confidently said there was no merger discussion within the SDP, but today the party is talking about a merger. What has changed?
Our national chairman, Shehu Musa Gabam, is speaking about the position of the party, and he has been consistent. The SDP is not against people coming together, groups of people coming together, and trying to better the lots of Nigerians and fashioning out better politics for the country. We all agree that the politics that has produced the PDP and the APC have not been good for the country and you can see the result, even from their members. So, what we’re trying to do is that you conform; associations and all come together.
But the SDP, as a party, will continue to be in existence. It will not change its name. It will not merge with another party. But it can receive politicians and other interested parties. What we are trying to do is to make sure that those people, however large they are, are united by ideology and that they are all singing the same song.
So, what do you call the meetings that have been going on between the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, and Nasir El-Rufai, who is now of the SDP, and their constant visitations to the former President Muhammadu Buhari, who is of the APC?
What I call it in clear terms is freedom of association, social gathering, consultation, dialogue or courtesy call. And those who go to those places are not going on behalf of the SDP. I believe that, and you will agree with me, Nasir El-Rufai is a senior brother of mine.
He has no mandate of the SDP. He has no mandate of the SDP to negotiate a merger with anyone. He has no mandate of the SDP to change the name of the party or to form any alliance with anyone. He is not an official of the party. Just like I am not an official of the party, we are members of the party, senior members of the party by virtue of what we have done with the party and the positions we have set in government.
But, he has no power higher than that of his own ward chairman or ward secretary, where he comes from. So, he can’t speak for the party.
However, he is a man of great talent, who can bring to the attention of the party opportunities that could be of benefit to the party and it is for the party to consider those opportunities and you can see that many of them, as attractive as they might be, may still not be considered by the party if they are not in line with the principles on which the party stands.
The same way, I have had many occasions to introduce some ideas to the party, and the party will consider some. They will decline some and say, Mr. President, this idea you have brought, maybe, it’s not the right one for now, and I respect that.
So, he is welcome, but I don’t think he attends all those meetings as the leader of the SDP. If anybody is confused about that, it could be the media and I hope there is nobody in politics who is speaking to him on the basis that he has the mandate of the SDP to speak on any matter
Do you see the SDP as the alternative to APC or PDP in the 2027 general election?
Well, I believe so. The 2027 election, from where I’ve seen it, is going to be about the people of Nigeria. And it’s going to be a referendum on the performance of President Bola Tinubu because he came to power with such a narrow margin, and a controversial margin for that matter. And since he’s been governing, he’s been governing as if he had the majority. He’s not been consulting well. He’s not even going around the country, even from the report you read today, he sent the National Security Advisor to go and speak to the people who are bereaved. That’s not the job of the National Security Advisor. That’s the job of the head of state. He should have gone there. And he needs to govern the people better. People’s welfare is not better. Economy is slightly worse than before. And he hasn’t got a handle on the Naira so that people will not be poor just by keeping their money in the banking sector. So he needs to do a lot of things for employment. He needs to run two budgets that are sensible and developmental. And he needs to bring more talent within his party. Nobody in the SDP is available to serve him. He needs to go to the APC, and maybe, borrow more people from the PDP or other Nigerians who are not in any political party and strengthen his cabinet and run the government better. So, by the time we get to 2027, Nigerians will have to choose between what he will have done by that time and what we are offering.
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