The candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in next year’s presidential election, Prince Adewole Adebayo has lambasted President Bola Tinubu, saying that the All Progressives Congress, APC-led Federal Government reforms programmes are deforming Nigerian instead. He also described the government’s student loan programme as unconstitutional and as a crime against Nigeria.

He passed the damning verdict on the government’s reforms and programmes shortly after he emerged as the SDP’s presidential candidate last week.

In this interview, he spoke on a wide range of issues including President Tinubu’s scorecard so far, party crisis, allegations of infiltration and state-backed destabilisation of opposition parties,

Education collapse, the government’s prioritization of electoral advantage over governance outcomes and Nigeria’s economic future as well as his emergence as the SDP flag bearer and his political and

Economic agenda on social welfare, education reform, and institutional accountability, among others.

How does that feel emerging the presidential candidate in the 2027 elections for the SDP?

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.

Your former national chairman is in court, and now you have another national chairman. What’s the plan going forward?

Well, I’m in a corner here because I’m a lawyer. Once you start with something 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. I think we should just allow the law to take its course.

Has this caused some kinds 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 to 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.

It was N35 million. Why wasn’t this sorted within the party? Why did we have to go to court, get someone arrested?

I don’t know why it couldn’t have been sorted. As a lawyer, what I can say is that someone is alleged to be involved in several amounts, maybe you’re mentioning just one, 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, attends trial and politics should not interfere. If we want to solve Nigeria’s problems, we cannot become another Tinubu administration where, through allies, 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 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 had 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 secretariat?

No. For me, it’s the police that are responsible because you don’t escort criminals to go and pull down gates.

Okay, so they came with the police, right?

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 IG a few more days to act. If nothing happens, the party will take further action.

What should the people know about the Social Democratic Party? What does it stand for when it comes to the Nigerian people?

Without sounding too professorial, the SDP is the party that has solutions to your social problems. It’s a party meant for ordinary people. When you wake up in the morning, you think about feeding your family, transport costs, education, healthcare, jobs and survival; those are the issues the SDP focuses 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 subsidies without thinking about the impact on transport,

Food, housing, jobs and people’s savings. But if you are 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. You need a political party focused on solving those problems, not one built around ethnicity or religion. We are concerned with how the 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. The APC treats education and food as personal problems until election season comes around.

First of all, you emerged as a consensus candidate because you didn’t have any opponents. 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. How do you want to beat Tinubu? A lot of people say it isn’t wise to field someone from the South West against Tinubu, who is also from the South West. What can you do about that?

We don’t think like that in the SDP. A hungry person 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 destabilise them. Did SDP experience that?

Yes, 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. The PDP governments also attacked opposition parties during Obasanjo’s era.

Were you able to identify these 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, right?

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 on, especially education. We are seeing changes in the education system, ranging from lower cut-off marks to shortened NCE routes and so on. What do you think? 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 qualificationsof some leaders, you’ll see 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, extracurriculars, prep classes and exam coaching.

Society must occupy young people constructively from childhood.

Would you continue with the student loans?

Student loans are a crime.

How so?

Yes. It’s a crime against the constitution and against the people.

So, would you remove the student loan? Are you aware that many students are happy about it?

No, they are not. Why should students borrow money for education if education is supposed to be free, compulsory and qualitative? The National Assembly members didn’t take loans for their own education. They enjoyed free education. 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. (The Sun)