2027: We Won’t Allow El-Rufai Hijack SDP For Personal Battle Against Tinubu – Adebayo

Presidential Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 elections, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has said former Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, and other opposition leaders will not be allowed to hijack the party for a personal fight against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said this during the 50th birthday celebration of his wife, Queen Lillian Adebayo, on Monday night in Abuja in a trending online video.
Adebayo said the SDP is not a “getaway car for a conspiracy and robbery”.
El-Rufai, who decamped from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the SDP, has been working with a bloc in the APC to weaken the party in favour of an emerging coalition.
However, Adebayo, who said he was still in the race for the 2027 presidential elections, maintained that SDP is not a platform for personal political battles.

“Of course, my party knows that I’m running for the 2027 election. As for the coalition, we are listening to them. We don’t want to be a getaway car for a conspiracy and robbery we did not plan. That’s not available.

“If the coalition is for the Nigerian people, the SDP is available. But if it is just a crime centre for disappointed Tinubu followers, they should go back to him and resolve their differences there. Don’t come to SDP to borrow us for a fight we are not involved in,” he said.

On the killings in Benue, Plateau and some other parts of the country, Adebayo urged the president to re-strategise the security architecture to address insecurity in the country.

Also speaking at the sidelines of the event, former African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore dismissed the ongoing coalition move by opposition elements ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Sowore said he was in support of coalition and opposition in a democratic setting, but argued that the individuals involved in the current coalition move lack the credibility to champion real change.

“I support coalitions and opposition. But not the kind that has people like El-Rufai. When the time comes, the moment they are offered what they want, they will go back to where they came from.

“The APC was a coalition. Did you forget? The people who are asking to form another coalition were former APC members. In fact, most of them were Buhari cabinet members who are supposed to be in prison forming a union of prisoners, not coalitions,” Sowore said.

On his part, Chairman Forum SDP State Chairmen and SDP Lagos Chairman, Hon. Femi Olaniyi Ferrari, said the party provides Nigerians with the opportunity to address the country’s challenges.

“We can all understand what Nigerians are going through. We asked for change, but the change has shortchanged us,” he said.