Adebayo made the remarks during his appearance on the 90Minutes Africa Presidential Candidates Series, hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo, where he offered a wide-ranging assessment of the Tinubu administration, Nigeria’s political history, insecurity, the economy, and the 2027 presidential election.
Speaking about the president’s leadership style, Adebayo said Tinubu’s conduct in office did not reflect an appreciation of the lessons of history.
He argued that political power should not be regarded as an achievement in itself but as an opportunity to improve citizens’ lives and establish institutions that would outlive the administration.
According to him, the president had an opportunity to “write his name in gold” by strengthening the rule of law and improving the condition of Nigerians, but had instead frittered away that opportunity.
Adebayo said leaders throughout history who treated power as an end in itself had generally failed to leave the kind of legacy that citizens could celebrate.
The SDP presidential candidate further stated that, unlike previous presidents who entered office through circumstances they did not necessarily engineer, Tinubu deliberately pursued the presidency and therefore should be judged against the expectations attached to that ambition.
“President Tinubu is the only one who has actively plotted his way to the presidency. Now he got it, even against all odds, and he has shown that he doesn’t deserve to be there,” Adebayo said.
Turning to the 2027 election, the lawyer rejected suggestions that the outcome was already determined in Tinubu’s favour.
“Those who say Tinubu has already won the election are just looking for excuses to do nothing,” Adebayo stated, arguing that no candidate could claim votes before Nigerians actually cast their ballots.
According to him, the focus should not be primarily on whether opposition parties unite behind a single candidate. Rather, he challenged Nigerians who oppose the current administration to make their own electoral choices at the polling booth.
“Instead of insisting that the opposition must come together, Nigerians should make up their minds not to vote for the broom,” Adebayo admonished.
Outlining what he would do if elected president, Adebayo promised to tackle corruption from the start of his administration. He argued that the conduct of political leadership directly affects the behavior of officials throughout government.
He also proposed linking the cost of living to household income and pledged to remove school fees and to develop an affordable public transportation system.
Explaining his proposals further, he assured that workers and students would receive identification cards equipped with QR codes that could also serve as tickets for public buses.
He further promised measures to reduce food costs, arguing that severe hunger undermines people’s ability to make rational decisions and to participate productively in society.
Some of these proposals are part of the broader programme presented by the candidate for his campaign, which identifies security, food, healthcare, education, housing, employment, mobility, and governance as interconnected priorities.
On insecurity, Adebayo argued that Nigerians could substantially address the country’s security challenges by changing the political leadership responsible for directing the security architecture.
He said that elements within government have strong political and economic interests in continued insecurity and that some criminal groups operate with the protection or cooperation of government officials.
He argued that a government genuinely committed to ending terrorism and kidnapping would develop the institutional capacity to pursue perpetrators regardless of where they operated.
“Government is a jealous institution and does not like sharing its powers with anybody,” he said in explaining his view that a determined commander-in-chief would be able to deploy the authority of the Nigerian state against insecurity.
