Adebayo: Tinubu more interested in Aso Rock, wealth

By Adeola Badru

IBADAN — The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo, has accused President Bola Tinubu of being more interested in remaining in the Presidential Villa and accumulating wealth than addressing the challenges confronting Nigerians.

Adebayo made the allegation in Ibadan during the public presentation of his presidential blueprint, Farewell to Poverty and Insecurity, where he called on Nigerians to organise at the grassroots and collectively demand better governance.

The SDP candidate alleged that Tinubu was not interested in the responsibilities of the presidency, including supervising ministers, engaging with citizens and providing essential services such as education and healthcare.

He said: “Tinubu doesn’t want to be your president. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t like the job of president. Tinubu doesn’t want to stay in Aso Rock and serve the people. He doesn’t want to talk to you. He doesn’t want to supervise ministers.

“Tinubu is only around because he wants to pack money. That is why he is not struggling for anything. He doesn’t even like the job of president. And he doesn’t want to talk like a president or behave like a president. He is only there because he wants to pack money.”

Adebayo also alleged that Tinubu’s political activities were initially driven by the desire to sponsor people into political offices and benefit financially from their positions.

He said the President later decided to seek the presidency himself after allegedly concluding that the financial returns from sponsoring others were inadequate.

According to him, “Tinubu’s business plan before was, ‘I will be sponsoring people to office and I will make profit out of it.’ Am I worried? Look, these people I am sponsoring, not enough money is coming back. Let me go and do this by myself.”

He further alleged that the President had little concern for citizens’ access to education, healthcare and other essential services.

Adebayo urged Nigerians to look beyond personalities and take responsibility for their choices at the polls, arguing that the country’s recurring governance problems required citizens to reconsider the leaders they elect.

He said repeatedly electing leaders accused of corruption should prompt citizens to examine their own role in the political process.

“If you have one president who is a thief, you have a second president who is a thief, you have a third president who is a thief, something is wrong with you. Why are you always choosing thieves? What kind of bad luck is that?” he asked.

Predicts further economic hardship

Adebayo warned that another year under the Tinubu administration, in his assessment, could worsen economic hardship, predicting that petrol could rise to N5,000 per litre and that Nigerians’ purchasing power could deteriorate further.

“Tinubu, if you allow him just four more years, if you allow him just one more year, four things are going to happen. You will buy fuel, petrol at N5,000 per litre. Because I predicted four years ago that you will buy it at N2,000 per litre. It is getting there,” he said.

He also predicted that the economy could grind to a halt, leaving Nigerians with large amounts of money that would have little purchasing power.

“The second thing that will happen, your economy will grind to a halt. You will see millionaires who cannot buy bread. All of you will become Manchester millionaires when Tinubu goes back because you will need one million naira to buy one loaf of bread. So you will be a millionaire in poverty,” he said.

The SDP candidate said continued inflation would also erode the value of the earnings of artisans, traders, mechanics and other workers.

‘66 years of independence unfulfilled’

Adebayo described Nigeria’s 66 years of independence as an unfulfilled promise for millions of citizens, arguing that political independence had little meaning where people remained hungry, unemployed, sick and without adequate housing.

“When you have independence on a piece of paper for 66 years and you are hungry, you are sick, you are unemployed, you are without housing and there is no prospect for your child that you are carrying in your hand, your independence is a lie,” he said.

He questioned the country’s development trajectory, arguing that Nigeria ought to have recorded greater progress decades after independence.

Adebayo, however, said his presentation was not intended to be another exercise in lamentation but a call for citizens to take action and participate in rebuilding the country.

“I don’t want to come here and do lamentations. I want to congratulate you that you have decided to take back your country. You have decided to build a country for your children and children’s children.

“I congratulate you that you have seen lies and you decided to follow the truth. And I will challenge all of us. Nobody can use mere wishes, sweet words, to crack a palm kernel. To crack a palm kernel, you have to take action. Very tough actions.”

Calls for rejection of ‘bad governance’

Adebayo identified citizens’ willingness to compromise their values for political and financial benefits as one of the factors sustaining poor governance.

He urged Nigerians to stop cooperating with what they consider injustice and to reject political practices centred on patronage, misuse of public resources and misinformation.

He said: “The reason why the government is cheating you, robbing you, enslaving you, depriving you, subjecting you and ridiculing you, and all your prayers on the mountain, in the mosque, in the churches, everywhere, have not caught up with them is because God is a God of justice. He cannot help you to punish your collaborators.”

Adebayo also argued that government had a responsibility to provide free and compulsory quality education, affordable healthcare, housing, food and employment opportunities.

Using his experience as a farmer to illustrate his argument on public healthcare, he said livestock owners routinely paid for veterinary treatment of their animals even though the animals did not contribute financially.

“When my cow is sick, I use my money to treat the cow. The cow doesn’t pay for it. How can I value my cow more than the government values you?

“We have dogs in the family. When the dog is not feeling well, we call the vet. Come and treat this dog.

“The dog does not speak English, doesn’t go to school, doesn’t pay salary. But we treat the dog. How can I love my dog more than I love you?” he asked.

Proposes nationwide solar initiative

On electricity, Adebayo advocated a nationwide solar power initiative, proposing the installation of solar panels on rooftops to improve electricity access, particularly for low-income households.

He said he had advised the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in September 2001 to consider solar energy as a practical solution to Nigeria’s electricity challenges.

Adebayo questioned why government could spend public funds on facilities for political office holders while citing limited resources when similar interventions were proposed for ordinary citizens.

He also argued that the rising cost of petrol, food, education and healthcare was compounded by the fact that political office holders did not personally bear the same costs as ordinary Nigerians.

“How can somebody who doesn’t pay for what you pay help you lower the price?” he asked.

Describing Farewell to Poverty and Insecurity as more than a political document, Adebayo said the blueprint represented a commitment to deploying Nigeria’s resources for the benefit of citizens.

“This manifesto, Farewell to Poverty and Insecurity, is not a book for entertainment and it is not a book of decoration. It is an agreement between you and your creator that the resources that God has given to Nigeria, we will use it for the people of Nigeria,” he said.

‘Organise against insecurity, poverty’

Adebayo called for collective action against insecurity, poverty and unemployment, warning that prolonged hardship could expose vulnerable Nigerians to criminal recruitment and other dangers.

He said children denied education could become vulnerable to recruitment by criminal groups, while people unable to afford medical treatment could lose their lives.

“Any government that will not give you housing, education, healthcare, food and employment is not a government. It has nothing to do with them. And don’t wait. Don’t wait.

“Because you have waited for 66 years. When I was growing up, the year 2000 looked like 2,000 years. And water for all by the year 2000, food for all by the year 2000, everything for all by the year 2000. The year 2000 happened 26 years ago,” he said.

He identified the inability of Nigerians to organise across religious, ethnic and other divides as a major obstacle to national development.

“The greatest problem of Nigeria is that we don’t know how to organise. Individually, it would make sense, but we need to learn to organise.

“Because what we are facing in government is armed robbery, organised crime. And if you want to defeat organised crime, you have to have an organised democracy,” he said.

Adebayo urged Nigerians to resist attempts to divide them along religious, ethnic and gender lines, saying the country’s challenges required collective action.

‘Rule Tinubu out of your life’

As part of his five-point appeal to Nigerians on the country’s 66th Independence anniversary, Adebayo urged citizens to pay less attention to political rhetoric and focus on organising at the community level.

He specifically called on Nigerians to engage their neighbours, discuss the country’s political and economic challenges and encourage participation in the political process.

“Rule Tinubu completely out of your life. Do not listen to Tinubu and his ‘bala blue’. Do not talk about him. Do not even laugh at him. Just remove him from your brain. Just forget about him. Don’t consider Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a presidential candidate. Just keep him out of your economy.

“Focus on how to build your country from your street. There is no reason for you to watch television and do analysis about Nigeria, and you wake up in the morning, you have your neighbour by your next door by the right, you have your neighbour by the next door by the left. You just ask them, what do you think about Nigeria? Are you going to vote? What do we do? We need to start from the street level,” he said.

Adebayo said Nigerians must move beyond complaints and translate their concerns into organised community-level action.

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