The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adebayo Adewole, has described the opposition coalition ahead of the 2027 general election as a strategic effort to wrest power from what he called a highly experienced and highly desperate political party.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Adewole said politicians participating in the coalition must be prepared to put the country ahead of their individual presidential ambitions, stressing that the process was aimed at producing a credible alternative for Nigerians.
“It is more of a strategic campaign to wrest power from a highly experienced and highly desperate political party.”
He said the coalition was not primarily about individual politicians securing presidential tickets but about convincing Nigerians that those involved were willing to make sacrifices in the national interest. “What we need to signal, and we are trying to signal to Nigerian people, is that these politicians who are in the position now, they are not about personal ambitions.”
Adewole said the opposition parties were willing to work towards a single presidential candidate, but argued that no aspirant should be described as stepping down for another because all the candidates were already active in politics. “With regards to stepping down, we have made it clear that nobody is stepping down because all of us are on the ground. There is no one you are stepping down from.”
He said politicians could instead step aside if doing so became necessary to facilitate a national consensus. “And with regards to stepping down, we have made it clear that nobody is stepping down because all of us are on the ground. There is no one you are stepping down from. The only person who can step down is the person who is the president today.
All those persons are on the ground already, there is no one you are stepping to. You are only stepping aside to not obstruct the process of arriving at the national consensus.”
Adewole said the SDP had initially recommended him as its preferred candidate for the coalition, but acknowledged that the eventual consensus candidate could emerge from another party.
“At the beginning, the person that the SDP recommend and I recommend to lead the single candidature is me.”
He added that the SDP would not abandon the coalition if another candidate ultimately emerged through the agreed process. “And if what is more sure does not necessarily take the candidature of the person, we are not going to leave the alliance or coalition on that basis.”
Adewole said any agreement among the opposition parties must recognise poverty and insecurity as fundamental issues confronting Nigerians. “One must agree that the point of poverty and insecurity is not negotiable and I think the majority of the members of the nation have to deal with insecurity and to deal with poverty.”
He said the opposition parties were also seeking cooperation on electoral reforms, particularly the independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). “For example, areas like how to ensure that INEC is a proper constitutional firm and not just another agency of government that can be used to manipulate the election.”
Adewole said the parties could work together to monitor INEC and support efforts to maintain the commission’s independence, while also ensuring that law enforcement agencies uphold the law rather than the wishes of the government in power. “We can all work together with our law enforcement so that we work for the law and ensure that the law is upheld, not the wishes of the government of the day.”
Adewole said the coalition had already made significant progress and could resolve remaining disagreements through negotiations among technical teams. “Once we have all these process areas settled, we are 90% of the way in the process area.”
On disagreements among opposition parties over issues such as fuel subsidy, Adewole said differences on individual policies should not derail the broader coalition. “Now, all these minor arguments, I believe that the technical teams sitting down together explaining the econometrics and arithmetic to every party to make it clear that the issue of subsidy is not what you said Nigerian people are going to decide an election upon.”
Adewole said political leaders should also remain open to learning and adjusting their policies based on feedback from Nigerians. “Secondly, any political party that is not teachable, that cannot learn from feedback, that is stuck to its own policy error, is another APC.”
He said the SDP was applying the same approach to its own manifesto by consulting different groups before its launch. “So you cannot be a government of the people and you are not willing to learn.”
Adewole said the coalition was ultimately intended to demonstrate to Nigerians that opposition politicians were prepared to make concessions rather than pursue individual ambitions at the expense of the country.
“I think the politicians are now coming together and trying to make some concessions and sacrifices.”
He said the process could give Nigerians confidence if it produced a credible alternative rather than another political arrangement that failed to meet expectations. “We are more interested to see that the process is one which can give Nigeria a sense of Eureka. By the time you finish, it doesn’t become a damn squib. Nigerians are not going to say, is this all you’ve got?”
Responding to concerns that major political figures could undermine the coalition by insisting on their individual ambitions, Adewole said. “So anyone who wants to be an elephant in the room needs to downsize, because there is no prize for our politics.”
He maintained that the coalition was not a popularity contest but a strategic effort to challenge the ruling party. “So it is not a popularity contest. It is more of a strategic campaign to wrest power from a highly experienced and highly desperate political party.”
He also insisted that the SDP remained committed to the coalition process and would not participate if it believed the effort was insincere. “If we in the SDP don’t believe in it, we will not even spend one minute of our time. We are sincere people and we don’t waste our time.”
Adewole said the broader objective was to strengthen democracy, reduce poverty and insecurity, and give Nigerians a viable alternative in the 2027 election. “We have a duty as a political class to communicate to the Nigerian people that we are not about personal ambition only, that we have the ambition, but the ambition is for the good of the country.”
He added that the opposition parties had a responsibility to ensure that their political ambitions did not become more important than the country’s democratic future. “And that there is no personal sacrifice that is involved in collaborating that is more important than getting the country right and getting a democracy that is strong.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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