The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has declared his party the only horse in the 2027 presidential race, insisting that it has the national spread and political structure to compete, with candidates across all 109 senatorial districts.
Speaking with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday in an interview, he urged the media to give all political parties equal coverage ahead of the 2027 elections, arguing that fair reporting should reflect the diversity of political opinions and allow Nigerians to assess each party’s manifesto and policy proposals.
“We are the only horse in the race. So we don’t need to be dark. We just have a white horse. We are the only horse.
“We are the only political party that has already prevented this kind of question from being asked by frontloading and forwarding our manifesto to all the Nigerian citizens and all the media institutions. And we have also launched this manifesto with live coverage by major media houses, including yours.
“Our understanding of the role of the media and analysis of politics and coverage of politics is that one, it is to cover events that happen. But what is clear, and what Senator Uba is saying, is that if five political parties have five events in a day, it doesn’t serve the constitution right and it’s not ethical for the media to cover only three and ignore the other two. It’s just that. How Nigerians want to vote in 2027 is up to them.
“What the SDP is focusing on is fair, water, poverty, and insecurity, and we are going around the country selling that idea, and we just want a hearing. It’s not as if the media is going to determine what the people are going to do anyway, because the penetration of the voters in the 176,846 polling units is not totally covered by the media. But I think, as a first-class in political science and a former faculty member in the Center for Democratic Studies, the media should just be contributing to the discourse and draw the attention of the media through their constitutional duty to cover every shade of political opinion.
“And if you want INEC to run a free, fair, and credible election, the media ought to give free, fair, and credible coverage.
“But what I think some in my party are emphasizing to the media is basically that you have a duty, it’s a constitutional duty, to report what is going on in the political space and to give opportunity, equal opportunity, to all shades of opinion, and not to be framing—coverage and framing are two different things—not to be framing a narrative so the Nigerian people perceive that other political parties are not serious or they don’t have anything to offer, or that the race is definitely between two or three people.”
Reacting to President Bola Tinubu’s comments that Nigeria would not return to the subsidy era, Adebayo likened the president to Pharaoh, arguing that his policies neglect Nigerians’ welfare while insisting that functional refineries, rather than subsidy debates, hold the key to affordable fuel.
“In our conclusion, the idea of going back to Egypt is not relevant to us. I don’t think President Tinubu is addressing us in that regard because he has no answer to our own. And if we want to be biblical or Quranic now, President Tinubu himself is the Pharaoh. He’s not the Moses, because if you want to be a Moses, you have to have manner for the people, you have to have kindness for the people.
“And secondly, you will see that the policies of the president is more akin to that of Pharaoh, where you take care of yourself and you neglect the need of the people, and you don’t allow them to express their God-given politics. And if you look at it at the end of the day, what Nigerians are trying to do is basically to move away from the APC and go to a promised land. And I think SDP has a better chance of taking them there.”
He maintained that both retaining and removing fuel subsidy would hurt Nigerians if the country continued to depend on products it does not adequately produce, insisting that the government must restore domestic refining capacity and address corruption in the oil sector.
“The problem is that the refineries have to work. Now, what we are going to do differently is to ensure that we get the refineries to work, we reinstate the 445,000 barrels.
“But one key issue I want to leave behind is that the argument around subsidy is not a solution. Whichever way you go, both sides are going to lose. If you say, ‘I’m going to keep subsidy,’ what you’re going to happen to you is that you are trying to subsidize a product you don’t produce, and in between, you have a lot of fiscal problems to deal with and corruption. On the other hand, you say, ‘I’m going to remove subsidy,’ and you don’t have a product, you are sort charging the Nigerian people because the command and control of supply is not in your hand.”
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