2023 Election: “Politicians Taught Me Lessons That Academics Cannot Give,” According To SDP Presidential Candidate Adebayo

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) ran Adewole Ebenezer Adebayo as its presidential candidate in the recently held general elections.

 

Two Senate seats, six House seats, and numerous state Houses of Assembly seats were won by the party under the leadership of a first-time political candidate who funded the entire campaign on his own.

Even as he dismisses the petitions contesting Tinubu’s victory before the tribunal, Adebayo claims in this interview that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu won the presidential election because he had the most seasoned politicians in the nation behind him. He claims to have learned his lessons, but he also claims that politics is full of pretences, much like Judas, who betrayed Jesus.

What have you learned about politics and the presidential race as a novice?

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Numerous lessons have been learned. Lessons are a part of life itself. It helps you get to know yourself better; you can tell when your resiliency exceeds your expectations.

You learn more about yourself. You are aware of your physical limitations. You can compare the country to what you previously believed it to be. By reading about people like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Osadebe, Ahmadu Bello, and Tafawa Balewa, among others, you gain a deeper understanding of human nature and a greater appreciation for politicians, especially those who have achieved success in politics. However, when you work in politics, you realise how difficult it may be to lead. You have to give 500 presentations or speeches at various venues, and you realise that you can’t give 500 speeches without making one mistake, about which people will speak.

It is a lesson that you will never learn in school. Any experience you have outside of politics cannot be used as a substitute for political experience.

Since the results of the election didn’t go your way, how disappointed are you with them overall?

Yes, I am disappointed in every aspect because when I started out, I expected to be the president-elect right now. But I’m glad that the country didn’t miss the chance to have a smooth transition of power from one president to another. I’m disappointed that I won’t be the next president. I am unhappy in the process since all of the participating agencies came up short, giving the impression that we missed out on some great opportunities to advance politics. We now have the chance to examine our issues and let the public witness the results of their decisions.

If given the opportunity again in 2027, and with the methodology used during the election, will you vie for the presidency again?

Life is dynamic. I am a not highly experienced politician. But the only thing I will not lose is myself. I will use a methodology that is legal. For example, if you say there is a way by which you can buy votes, lie against people or bribe INEC officials, I will not join you. However, if there is any way one can do the campaign better and get the buy-in of the people into your idea, why not? The candidate who had the most experienced politicians supporting him is Tinubu.

What about Atiku?

Atiku’s peak was 2011. People can have double peaks. Another one was 2015. But the most peak of his political career was in 2019 due to Buhari’s absenteeism in the presidency due to ill health and Dark Age decisions he was making. But in 2023, it was quite competitive. Right from the party, a lot of the people didn’t want him. PDP’s natural constituency didn’t want him either. PDP’s natural constituency has always been South-South, South-East and Christian enclaves in the North and Middle-Belt. He had controversies such that he was contending on all fronts.

Politics of PDP is that of money. There are still more volunteers in APC than PDP. Somebody that wants to be made governor in 12 years time will be doing something for the party with the hope that in 12 years time, he would be on the queue. But for PDP, it is cash and carry. There were more people willing to give money than to take in 2019.

PDP lost power in 2015 and, since then, they have been out of power. But they were sustained by the second layer of the party which is the governors who are the electoral college of the party. What he did was fight the electoral college. He said it himself that he fought the governors but Peter Obi chickened out, but it was a pyrrhic victory. He won the battle but lost the war.

You said Tinubu had the most experienced people supporting him…

Yes. Even those governors who first opposed him, he managed to keep most of them on his side. Throughout the campaign, I ran into a lot of people who stated, “We like you, but we are stuck with our man.” However, despite the fact that he is somewhere in France dangling his leg, even the sum of your efforts as a presidential candidate fall short of what the people are doing on his behalf. They continued to be highly busy.

Like in Jigawa, whatever I did would be undone by the governor as soon as he arrived. Although I doubt Tinubu was aware of my activities there, the governor was sufficient. Each time I believed I had

If someone was working with me, I would quickly learn that they had quit and joined APC. A senator who was a major supporter of my candidature, for example, switched to the APC and even abandoned his bid for the Senate in their instead.

Just so you know, folks may act pretend. They came to us stating they wanted to join us when the Labour Party in the entire North-West disintegrated because they didn’t like Peter Obi, but I didn’t think it was a good idea to promote political brinksmanship at the time. I could have made a mistake.

You were the first contender to congratulate the president-elect, aside from the SDP not contesting the outcome of the election.

I’m not sure what people were anticipating, but I am aware of what leadership is. I’m descended from royalty. It would be naive to suppose that the kingmakers would select me if the Osemawe kingship (Ondo) become vacant. Being a member of a royal family does not ensure that you will become king. It is not mechanical. There is a chance to apply to serve. It does not constitute a right.

You shouldn’t consider it a right if more than a million people applaud you as you move around. Everyone who stands for office is aware that you might or might not win. I was always aware that the odds were 50/50.

I came here to present solutions to Nigeria’s challenges and to demonstrate what aptitude, character, and pedigree are capable of. Since the political parties didn’t provide any indications that they wanted fair elections that may result in decent administration, I’ve been noticing evidence that our population isn’t yet ready. All I had to do was pay attention to my own party to ensure that these inclinations were kept to a minimum.

SDP’s convention was the most tranquil, with no disputes. Why should I insist that if I lose, I must go to court since I ran against so many opponents in the primary and none of them filed a lawsuit against me instead of supporting my campaign?

The election participants, including those who are now protesting, which is their right, committed several irregularities.

Like?

Whatever they are currently complaining about, they also engaged in it. They are unable to attribute those issues on the election winner in their petitions to the tribunal. I’m not required to harbour resentment towards the victor. It’s like if there were 18 people in a car that crashed, the driver died, you were hurt, and some other passengers walked away unharmed, and now you’re blaming the survivors for the accident.

You are unable to comment because the outcome was not uploaded, and this particular candidate is to blame for it. Additionally, they made the absurd claim in their petitions that the person was unqualified to contest because they were lawyers.

Why?

A person who meets the requirements to contest cannot, in the eyes of the law, be disqualified from doing so. I can easily comprehend what 25% of 2/3rd in Nigeria means. I’m not a moron.

Do you mean to imply that the Abuja component in the controversy at large is unimportant?

That is just a comical relief. I don’t do things for show. The area I have genuine complaint is the area of bribery of voters. That, I think, is very bad. And in the area of the INEC staff helping to change result in some places, that is also very bad. If you look at it, it is not as if the person that won did it more than others. If you look at the legal limit of finance for campaign, they all exceeded it. I came to change politics. There is a limit to which I want politics to change me. People are already used to bad behavior for a long time. And, so, if you say you are in politics, people just assume.

If you say you are joining the police, it is believed you going there to take bribe. You can be a politician and not be bitter, desperate and dishonest. We look at narratives in this country from the negative point. People have told me that “you stood out. You look different”. I am not different. Peter Umeadi of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, spent eight years as Chief Judge in Anambra State. From 1997, he had been a judge. He was a member of the National Judicial Council. He is a professor of law. He didn’t go to court. I am not surprised that he didn’t go to court because I know how decent he is as a person.

May be because there isn’t anything to fight for…

If you have respect for the legal profession, and you belong there, you will know the limit of what you can do. If you see decent people from decent backgrounds like Malik Ado Ibrahim, he hasn’t gone to court. And I am not sure Rabiu Kwankwaso filed any petition, he hasn’t. Only three or four of the 17/18 losers are in court. But, you never can tell, something good might come out of it. But I can guarantee, all the petitions filed will be dismissed. When you go to court, you should present to the court something that makes sense because the court is looking for a criminal conviction.

His (Tinubu) is a civil case. I am an American lawyer and I have done this type of case over the years. The time Tinubu will know I am not his friend is when he begins to exercise his presidential powers because whether he complies with the laws or he is meeting the expectations of the people will be the next stage for me.

I’ve moved past the election topic. However, since 1963, there haven’t been any popular elections. Yakubu’s rule will end soon (Mahmood). If we don’t address the root of the issue, the one that follows him will be worse. I was one of those who stood up for Maurice Iwu when he was being criticised in 2007 and questioned Nigerians about what he could have done. Even worse than that is Yakubu. Except that when we go down to the real issue, the new INEC Chairman will be worse than Yakubu.

What’s the problem?

The issue stems from decisions made in 1998 that the military should disband and that we should institute civilian government. Yes, we succeeded in establishing civil rule. But we only declined to exercise democracy. But that endeavour did yield two results. In contrast to the military, we were able to fix our tenure. The second point is that we weren’t going to submit to authority by sitting down. To get our votes, you must come to us.

But there are other aspects to it that we overlooked. Although there are coup plotters in the military, political parties regrettably lack a place to teach politicians. This situation involves politicians who

The elite simply put up the parties so they wouldn’t have to worry about the populace. The Chairman and Secretary can then decide whether a new party member who joins on Monday can subsequently run for office on Tuesday. Therefore, failure on its own, represented by political parties, is the first and most significant agency. And in both the APC and PDP, the nomination is given to the candidate with the biggest bankroll.

What do you consider to be your one electoral failure?

The fact that the people I was speaking to did not cast ballots is my greatest personal failing.

Why?

May be I didn’t do enough of that or maybe I didn’t have the organisational and logistical background.

You claimed that none of the presidential candidates’ petitions would be successful. Do you mean to say there aren’t any grounds at all?
I am aware that the law cannot be taken away from me. I understand how elections work. I completed it. You should visit Law Report. Contrary to popular belief, a judge is unaware of how well-liked your candidate is. The Electoral Act and the Constitution must be implemented, as the court is aware, and INEC is the organisation tasked with managing elections.

You must appear before the court and provide evidence that INEC violated both the Electoral Act and the Constitution in a way that was significant, not minor. You may inform the court of this.

You can also argue that even though the election was legally performed, the math used to determine the number given to each candidate was flawed. You cannot claim that the election was invalid while also claiming that you received more votes than the other candidates.

Again, not every mistake you spot would be significant to the court. The court will not throw out the election because it follows the law, which states substantial compliance, and if that is the case, then all of the results would be in substantial compliance if they went to 1,000 polling units and killed 1,000 people while still bringing results from the PUs.

Will you advise the captain not to sail again if a ship carrying 176 passengers sinks and one person perishes? Will you conclude that a teacher failed if 176 students take a test and one fails? Can the election issue have a significant impact on the final outcome? The problem is that.

In terms of methodology, your campaign was entirely self-funded. Will you switch to crowd fundraising in the future?

I want money politics to be less prominent. Because crowdfunding includes moral and legal issues, I dislike the topic. You are not allowed to demand money from strangers. We have to be cautious. If someone likes us, he or she is welcome to print posters for us and put them up in their ward.

Why is he making us send money? Money-sending requests came from the Diaspora. I refused, stating that you have to abide with INEC rules and other requirements. I’m aware that the Labour Party did the same. All the best to them. Politics including money is the most hazardous thing. Because of this, elections are publicly funded in the UK.

It would be like saying you would have performed better if you had purchased expo. Nevertheless, it’s a bad thing. I believe that candidates that received 100,000 votes honestly, without the use of fraud, bribery, or undue influence, had a better chance of success than those who received funding from both local and international sources, including Nigerian foes.

Is that the reason you support an ethical revolution?

Yes. Because of this, I believe people who are celebrating Tinubu’s victory are doing so far too soon. Only when their expectant wives undergo a C-section in the maternity hospital and survive because excellent medical care is available there will they have triumphed. What have you earned if you are celebrating your victory while a large pothole on the road is likely going to kill you? The majority of persons using the second Niger Bridge won’t be APC members, but they will benefit from Buhari’s win more than those who are chanting “Sai Buhari, Say Baba” everywhere. Anyone who appreciates a train ride, assuming they are not abducted, will profit from

When injured, those engaged in combat or Obidients in Lagos will travel to Lagos hospitals rather than the Obedient hospital. They are not playing politics the way they should. It should be a chance to help and to find the finest candidate. I’m curious to know who the political contender is who is the weakest because of this.

Why?

That’s when your politics has mature because a country is successful where the weakest of the candidates is still good enough as the best. In the course of engaging issues during the campaign, there are many areas in which I was convinced beyond doubt that I was the best candidate, but I didn’t have a feeling that being the best candidate in my head entitles you to people head to force them to vote for you. During the campaign, one of the closest persons to me carrying my messages all about was holding another party’s flag and flyers.

I was curious and asked if she had changed camp. She gave me the best answer. She said she liked me as I was her best candidate among all “but I cannot vote you”. She said “this person paid my school fees and got me a job. I owe that person that one vote”. But I thought I was trying to create a country where you wouldn’t need anybody to get you a job. On the eve of the election, many people working with me would call me, asking esoteric questions that I found interesting, mystical questions. They were asking if I had a name that could be found in the Bible.

I was unaware of the question’s core, though. A woman later explained to me how one Pentecostal pastor had advised that people should vote for candidates whose names could be found in the Bible. Interesting enough, though, I’ve kept some of the Bible’s most beautiful names a secret. Like other people whose names are written in the Bible, including my senior brother Peter, whose name is also found there, his name is evil since he betrayed Jesus.

Steven is Sowore’s Christian name. Steven died from being stoned. Therefore, when you take all of that into account, you will realise that people voted for a variety of reasons.