Adewole Adebayo, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 presidential elections, has declared that SDP is set to change the political ills in the country.

Adebayo who urged Nigerians to adopt the SDP to be able to correct the political ills in Nigeria said, “That is what the leadership of the SDP is working to achieve. If you speak to our national chairman, Shehu Gabam, our national secretary, Olu Ogunloye and other leaders of the party, you’ll see that down our ladder and our organogram, we are reminding everyone who joins the party that they are welcome.

“However, look at our manifesto, chapter two of the Constitution and the plight of the masses, our politics is geared towards addressing that. What we want is for the party to be adopted by the Nigerian people as a platform to correct what is wrong in our politics.”

Adebayo condemned the attitude to resigning to fate, complaining and hoping that God would send a good leader from heaven without working hard to bring such expectation to reality.

He noted that right from former President Goodluck Jonathan to Muhammadu Buhari and now, Tinubu, Nigerians have always murmured and complained without proportionate action to install a good leader.

On how he will be able to achieve the feat, he said the secret is just to change the politics as it has been played over the years and even as most parties are still going about it.

“If you listen to politicians, they will tell you, oh, the president who is there now is the problem. Then, it was anybody but Jonathan. And then, oh, Buhari is the problem.

“More talent will come into politics, and people will not emphasise the politics of money. So, once we change that system, it doesn’t matter if Tinubu can resign tomorrow, you can conspire and remove him but you don’t need that. What we need is to change the politics, and to do that, we must first change our political party, and anyone who looks at the SDP knows that we have changed the party for the better.

“The message is going to the people. While we are doing awareness and talking, I don’t want Nigerians to sit at home and point fingers at the bad governors and say it’s caused by politicians. The mandate comes from the people, and once the people raise their bar, some politicians will respond to it and some will fall by the wayside.

“But, if you say, under this current system we are running now, you want to bring money, push money on me, and put me there; I’m not going to accept. We must change the politics, and that’s what we are trying to do.

“By God’s grace, we will not let Nigerian people down, and we are not going to follow those who have ruined the system before. Anyone is free to join the party, but we are, for the people of Nigeria, we have no other objective, no other mission.”

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

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