***Pledges 75,000MW power, four public refineries
****Challenges Tinubu to debate
Isaac Samuel
The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has unveiled the party’s 2027–2031 manifesto, promising to end insecurity in Nigeria within four years if elected president.
He also pledged to tackle poverty,, unemployment and the country’s power crisis while challenging President Bola Tinubu to a public debate ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Adebayo unveiled the policy document, titled “Farewell to Poverty and Insecurity,” in Abuja on Tuesday.
He described the document as roadmap for transforming Nigeria from what he called a system driven by political personalities and promises to one based on measurable policies and accountability.
He challenged Tinubu to publicly account for the resources available to his administration, particularly funds saved from fuel subsidy reforms and allocations to the security sector.
“The first challenge is thrown to President Bola Tinubu to move in, come out of hiding, come and debate. Anyone who wants to keep his job should be able to answer his bosses,” Adebayo said.
“Where have you been in the past four years? What have you been doing? Where is the money? Where is the money you saved from subsidies that never existed? Where are the trillions for security? Where is the CNG? Where is electricity?”
The SDP candidate said Nigerians deserved to hear directly from those seeking to retain political power what they had achieved with the resources entrusted to them.
He argued that the 2027 election should be about competing ideas and policies rather than ethnic sentiments, personality politics and personal attacks.
According to him, the SDP manifesto was designed to provide measurable solutions to Nigeria’s longstanding challenges, including insecurity, poverty, unemployment, inadequate infrastructure, poor electricity supply and economic hardship.
Adebayo said politics should primarily be about producing competent and accountable leaders capable of improving the lives of citizens.
“Politics has only one result, to give you a set of people from time to time to govern the country. What we are doing today is to start a new way of life in the public life of Nigeria,” he said.
He added that the problems confronting the country were largely man-made and could therefore be addressed through purposeful leadership and effective governance.
A major component of the SDP manifesto is the proposed expansion of Nigeria’s electricity generation capacity to 75,000 megawatts, with Adebayo saying the target would be driven by a combination of gas, solar, hydroelectric power, decentralised generation and local manufacturing.
The candidate has separately explained that his proposed power strategy would involve rehabilitating existing hydroelectric facilities while developing new generation capacity and expanding mini-grids and embedded power.
He said Nigeria could no longer plan for electricity generation in the range of 10,000MW or 20,000MW if it genuinely intended to industrialise.
“For now, any presidential candidate who is not giving you a plan for 50,000 megawatts is behind the time. Nigeria has passed the age where we need 10,000 megawatts or 20,000 megawatts,” he said.
Adebayo said the proposed 75,000MW capacity would not depend solely on the national grid, as decentralised generation would be developed to serve communities and economic clusters.
He identified gas as one of Nigeria’s major advantages, while proposing increased use of solar and other renewable energy sources.
“A lot of it will be green, like solar; a lot of it will be gas, because we have a bonus of gas,” he said.
The SDP candidate also said the power plan would be accompanied by reforms across the electricity value chain, including generation, transmission, distribution and energy procurement.
He argued that simply increasing generation would not solve Nigeria’s electricity crisis unless the transmission and distribution systems were simultaneously strengthened.
Adebayo proposed local production of solar equipment and other energy components, saying this would reduce import dependence, create jobs and support industrialisation.
On the petroleum sector, Adebayo promised that an SDP administration would establish four functional public refineries and 36 modular refineries, while encouraging private investors to establish additional refineries.
He said the policy was aimed at strengthening domestic refining capacity, reducing dependence on imported petroleum products and bringing down the cost of fuel.
He has also proposed a petrol price of about N200 per litre, arguing that Nigerians should not be expected to purchase petroleum products at international prices when their incomes are not at international levels.
He argued that Nigeria had sufficient crude oil resources to meet domestic needs and should prioritise local refining rather than exporting crude and importing refined products.
On security, Adebayo promised that an SDP government would defeat insecurity within four years through a combination of stronger security institutions, better governance, economic productivity and national unity.
He said his administration would reclaim territories controlled by terrorists and criminal groups and dismantle the economic networks sustaining criminal activities.
In outlining his security strategy, Adebayo said government must address both the immediate security threat and the social and economic conditions that enable insecurity to persist.
He maintained that the country already knew many of the areas where terrorists and criminal elements operated, arguing that the challenge was to deploy sufficient political will and institutional capacity to deal with them.
He also criticised the continued reliance on ethnic and regional divisions, urging Nigerians to stop treating one another as enemies.
“We will solve our problems from here,” he declared.
Adebayo said his approach would combine kinetic and non-kinetic measures, including economic opportunities and improved governance.
The SDP candidate said Nigeria did not necessarily require decades to reverse its fortunes, arguing that four years of determined leadership could produce significant improvements.
“Four years is enough for a determined leader to help his people. Forty years is not enough for barrages and thieves to steal your drive,” he said.
He said the SDP was presenting its manifesto as an open document that could be adopted by any government or political party genuinely interested in solving Nigeria’s problems.
“When you have a policy document that works, it will work if SDP retains it. It will work if APC retains it. It will work if Accord retains it. Anybody who implements it, it will work,” he said.
Beyond electricity and petroleum, the manifesto places human development, education, infrastructure and economic productivity at the centre of the party’s proposed administration.
Adebayo said Nigeria must move away from an import-dependent economy and focus on domestic production, investment, innovation and value addition.
He said agriculture should be developed through complete value chains, while government should create an environment where businesses can produce more goods and services locally.
The SDP National Chairman, Prof. Sadiq Umar Abubakar Gombe, who spoke at the event, said the manifesto was built around three interconnected objectives — security, productivity and prosperity.
“Without security there can be no meaningful production. Without production there can be no sustainable prosperity. And without prosperity, democracy cannot fully deliver on its promise,” Gombe said.
He said the responsibility of government was to provide security, welfare and advancement for citizens, stressing that public office should not be treated as private property.
Also speaking at the event, Prophet Isa El-Buba endorsed Adebayo and urged Nigerians seeking political change to move beyond speeches and become active participants in the political process.
El-Buba said he had studied Adebayo and the SDP manifesto and was convinced that the candidate offered a credible pathway to addressing the country’s challenges.
He urged supporters to mobilise at the grassroots and persuade voters based on the candidate’s programme rather than inducements.
“After this moment is no longer speeches; it’s action time,” he said.
