INEC’s actions threaten free, fair elections as opposition faces systemic disadvantages – Adebayo

As political realignments quietly gather momentum ahead of the 2027 general election, debates around opposition coalition-building have taken centre stage in Nigeria’s evolving democratic landscape. While many political actors insist that only a united front can unseat the ruling party, Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) offers a sharply different perspective. In this revealing interview with IFEOMA OKEKE-KORIEOCHA, he dismisses elite-driven alliances as fundamentally flawed, questions the credibility and readiness of the electoral system, and outlines the SDP’s strategy of building what he describes as a “people-powered coalition.” Excerpts:

Your party’s activities appeared not really in the media. May we know what your party is doing now?

What we do is to try and increase our membership. If you go round the country, you will see physical signs of it. The under reporting of what we are doing is a mixed blessing. In some siting we get frustrated. We were in kano where thousands of people joined the SDP you didn’t report it, on the other hand, we think what does it matter, once the election day you will see the difference. The person we are trying to remove has security apparatus; he knows what we are doing. If you are a Nigerian out there and you are expecting a coalition to come and save you, you are making a big mistake. What you need to do is talk to your neighbour who says let’s pray over this problem, yes you can pray but don’t stop there, you need to listen to debate, join a political party that you think is speaking the truth to you and make sure you participate on the election, don’t join anyone who says hope is lost. You need to come out. We have religious and civic organisations and professional organisation who think they can profit from rendering services to a bad election system instead of coming to improve on it so that we can over all have a good country. We are also making sure the commitment to supporting us is not just verbal assurance but we have actually taken a step to come and join the party, participate in the membership. In the last few months data shows that in many remote parts of the country, there is no week now that we don’t have close to hundred thousand people joining. It used to be hundred thousand a month and we are following up so that it’s not just number that we are going to post to INEC but quality participation. We are not closing our hears to those in the political class who wants to learn the lesson of the past and coming to coalition but the real coalition discussion or corporation will start after the primaries because different political parties have different level of sanity in their party, if the people you are going to talk with like the one of the talks we had recently, we found out that like there was about seven antagonistic self-possessed aspirants and are had to tell their representatives, don’t bring your virus to this discussion, go back to your party, narrow down your own number of aspirants first before you can come to talk to us, that is the kind of mechanism we need if it’s not going to be free for all.

We are still friends. Our own kind of coalition is when you begin to see civic coalition, other groupings in Nigeria who ordinarily would but show interest in it are showing interest, that is our idea of coalition.

You were in Plateau State during the attack in Rukuba, this shows your leadership and exemplary qualities. However, some major defections happened in your party recently; is this a sign of people losing confidence and faith in your party capacity to drive the 2027 agenda?

No, not really. What I see is that if there is a system where 5000 left the SDP, chances that we probably won’t notice at all because if you are bringing in 50,000, 100,000 every week and 5000 decide to leave especially if it’s because they are beholding to one particular aspirant who is not favoured by zoning and he knows that in the SDP, he might not get the ticket, he decides to go to another party, he takes 5000 people with him and he has a budget to advertise that, we cannot complain.

You don’t seem concerned that the party is left with one member in the Senate?

Not really, because one person died and we lost one now though he hasn’t officially resigned because we have to be careful according to the law, he hasn’t told us that he has left but we are hearing rumour that he is the favoured candidate of the ruling party. We cannot do anything about that. He is trying to be governor of a state. We already have quality people who will be governor. So, it’s natural that he knows that we will not take him to be the governorship candidate because of the way the formulas have worked out and he decides to go and seek his governorship elsewhere. I think we have to respect that. But the party is not about individual ambition like that because everyone of such that advertises departure, there are thousands coming in. What matters to us is that we would be congratulating ourselves half way if the Nigerian people understands why the SDP is in the race. That we are about substance of the Chapter 2 of the constitution and that we are trying to let you know that governance is not contest of personality; it’s about contest of principles. If they understand that we build that coalition across the country, others will join us even those who are all over the place now, that is the coalition, many will join us once they discover that Nigerian people are getting that message and that message is important, if we don’t get it now, we get the transition wrong. I must say this clearly. The objective of the SDP is deeper than the objectives of some of the people you find in the so-called coalition. They are satisfied 100 percent if the president is removed. Hundred percent of their objective is achieved. But for us, that is just the beginning. Our objective is achieved only when we remove the president and replace him with government that will not look like his own and the bad past experiences which will look like Nigeria, on a sustainable part to good governance, quality leadership, that is what we are looking for, not just let us throw this computer away, if you throw it away, what are you replacing it with, that is where our discussion is deeper for us than them.

Do you think the INEC will be able to conduct a credible election come 2027?

I don’t think they are aiming towards that because you have to be sure first if that is what they are aiming towards before you say whether they can do it. The person who is not willing to work will not be productive. It is a question of what the rest of us have to do. Remember that the INEC chairman did not appoint himself. He was appointed by the president who am not sure free, fair and credible election is top on his priority. Not only that; the president didn’t act alone, there is Council of State where all the former leaders and experienced people in the country, they all approved it without any question. And it went to the National Assembly, representing all Nigerians, and they approved the appointment without question. It looks to me therefore, that there was no so much uproar even some of the people who are now campaigning against the INEC chairman, if you go back months back you would have read the news where they were praising the appointment. Transactionally as they get along, they discovered he was not getting one with and they realised they need to criticise. We have blown the opportunity to choose a free and fair INEC. If we wanted to do that, we would have done the Uwais panel and the chairman if ADC for example, he was the senate president as at the time Justice Uwais submitted that report during President Yar’Adua. When David Mark reviewed the report, he threw it away, and he spent 8 years exacting that law. A lot of opportunity for free, fair and credible election had been lost.

It’s like those initial antagonists of sound electoral draft now become the victims?

Yes, because at that time, the rigged elections favoured them and they assumed like President Tinubu assuming now and the APC people that they will always be in the saddle forever. Right now, the people left, to ensure free, fair and credible elections are not the politicians themselves, but the media, the voters and the law enforcement. But for INEC, I think that opportunity has been lost already.