Prince Adewole Adebayo is the leader of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, as well as its presidential candidate in the 2023 general election. In this interview, speaks on a wide range of national issues including his assessment of the nearly two years in office of the administration of President Bola Tinubu and the recent joining of the SDP from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, by the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai. He also spoke about general unemployment and insecurity in the country. Excerpt of the interview:
You are particularly excited by the new additions to your party, Nasir el-Rufai and Major Hamza al-Mustapha. About El-Rufai, you said he’s an asset to the party, but he has weaknesses. Would you like to elaborate on what you consider these weaknesses? Concerning el-Rufai, you said he’s an asset to the party, but he has weaknesses. Would you like to elaborate on what you consider these weaknesses?
I was interviewed by the media when I welcomed Malam Nasir el-Rufai into the SDP. Someone said, why was I praising el-Rufai and all of that? And I said, look, I’m not praising him. I recognize el-Rufai as someone who is a technocrat and an achiever when you give him an executive job to do. He has his weaknesses. He mentioned to me some problems. People don’t like him in some places. I said, everybody has their weaknesses. He has his weaknesses. And it’s his job to deal with that. It’s not my job. I’m not his therapist. I’m not his mentor.
But you cannot deny the fact that he was a very effective FCT Minister. He developed Kaduna with infrastructure. And he was very good and transparent when he was at the BPE. And he is the one who works on those. It’s not me. I have my weaknesses. Maybe you are perfect, but I suspect that you have your weaknesses, too.
The impression many people have is that your party’s net just caught a big fish with Nasir el-Rufai joining your party, it is also being rumoured in some quartets that el-Rufai is probably the biggest personality in the party. Is this the beginning of defections expected into the party?
el-Rufai is not a fish at all. He is a fellow fisherman. So, he has just joined us on our fishing expedition. So, he is an outfit fisherman, who knows the waters and the ropes. He has joined us. Many have joined. So, I don’t see how the media determine who is bigger than who, but what we are looking for is that every Nigerian who understands the predicament we are in would want to join the SDP as a credible platform.
Attahiru Bafarawa has joined the SDP, for example. He is a former governor in his state. A lot of people have joined him. I am not going to steal the thunder of others because everyone has their protocol of announcement.
The summary of it is that we are looking for fishermen because Nigeria’s ship is in the wilderness and we need to go into the depths of the ocean to rescue the country. And I think that every Nigerian should think about what they need to do to get this country out of the situation we find ourselves in. Nothing is working. And those who want to join other political parties are free to join as well. But I think that to understand the sense of urgency the country is going through now, the SDP is a viable place for them to come.
What is the compensation package, and what is the talk about a grand coalition to remove Tinubu from power?
Tinubu is going to be removed from power. That one is sure. And there will be an SDP president. As a coalition, all of that is not inside our party. Maybe people are having a discussion outside. After having their discussion, they feel like they can come to the SDP and try to work within the SDP.
With what is going on, some see SDP as the new face of opposition in Nigeria. Could this be true?
SDP is the true face of the incoming government. That’s how we see ourselves. If that is what they think of us, fine, no problem. We are just consistent. We have been the opposition even before Tinubu came. Our manifesto was a different one. Our agenda was a different one. So, we just remain consistent.
More people are listening to us. Many people come up to me when I go around. Oh, we were carried away by the frenzy of the 2023 election, and we didn’t listen to you enough. We will be listening to you. We now understand you. Some people opposed us before. And they said, well, I only opposed you because you didn’t have any government experience. Now that we have tested those who have government experience and you are far better than them, what you predicted has come to pass. We are now ready to join you.
Given the fact that some elements in the North are saying the Presidency must return to the North, is the Southern Presidency for 2027 still possible?
The Presidency is neither in the North nor in the South. The Presidency is in the hands of the wrong people right now. So what we want to do is to return the Presidency to the people of Nigeria. The Presidency that is there now doesn’t serve East, doesn’t serve West, doesn’t serve North, doesn’t serve South. It’s a self-serving one. So all this is just a waste of time.
What we want is a Presidency that works. So there is nothing called Southern Presidency or Northern Presidency. What we have is a government that serves the people or does not serve the people. The one that is there now does not serve the people. And we need to bring one that serves the people.
But in the SDP, we look at the government, we look at Chapter 2 of the Constitution, we look at our manifesto, and we look at the programmes of that government. When we compare, we know that APC is not on the side of the people. Just like the Peoples Democratic Party before, they have not been on the side of the people.
There is no disparity in the hunger in the North, or in the South, or in the East, or in the West. People have children and they are unemployed. There is no better employment in the North or in the South. When it comes to insecurity, everybody who leaves his house is praying hard, and those who are in their houses are having sleepless nights. So, if it comes to the economy, unstable currency, inflation, and all of these other factors, costs that are arising, a poorly performing budget, it doesn’t favour the North, and it doesn’t favour the South.
The Tinubu administration is almost two years in office. Can you assess its performances so far?
It has been working off the syllabus. So, most of what they have done is off-syllabus because the syllabus for governance in Nigeria is the constitution. The syllabus is particular about the area of concentration, and that area of concentration is Chapter 2 of the constitution. Even with their watered-down Renewed Hope, they have not even gone five percent of the way. Their budget last year underperformed, and even the President acknowledged that the budget performed below 30 percent. So, they have scored themselves.
President Tinubu was at the joint plenary of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives said while President Tinubu was presenting the budget that the previous year’s budget underperformed.
So, do I need to say more? So, they are on their way out. What we are trying to do is usher them in an orderly fashion.
