Adewole Adebayo, the 2023 Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate, has criticized President Bola Tinubu, praising his political skills but condemning his poor performance in governance.
In an interview with Vanguard, Adebayo questioned how Tinubu could leave a meaningful legacy given his “failure rate” in running the country.
“You have to give President Tinubu an A1 in politics. The only problem he has with the A1 is that he tends to have F9 in governance,” Adebayo said.
He added that while Tinubu understands the political class well—knowing how to motivate, recruit, retire, and reengage politicians—he fails to address the real needs of Nigerians.
“He doesn’t need to have many people defecting to his party. If he cannot save lives in Benue, Plateau, and many parts of the country, then he has failed,” Adebayo said.
The SDP politician accused Tinubu of assuming Nigerians are uninterested in politics and believed capturing institutions and politicians would eliminate opposition parties.
“The real opposition would come from the electorate,” he stressed.
Adebayo also warned against attempts to turn career politicians into opposition voices, saying many only raise noise when they lose appointments or positions.
“Because it’s only when they are dropped off from the list of ministers, board appointments, that is the only time they remember that they need to make this noise so that they can be brought back,” he added.
