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The contest for the 2027 presidential seat assumed a new twist as the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, challenged President Bola Tinubu to a public debate, demanding answers to how trillions of Naira allocated to security, energy and economic reforms were spent.
Adebayo issued the challenge while unveiling his political agenda for Nigerians, tagged, ‘Farewell to Poverty and Insecurity: Governance and Accelerated Development — Blueprint of a New Nigeria, 2027–2031,’ declaring that Nigerians deserve answers before another election cycle.
He stressed that anyone who wanted to keep his job should be able to answer his bosses.
He asked: “Where have you been in the past four years? What have you been doing? Where is the money? Where are the trillions of Naira for security? Where is the CNG? Where is electricity?”
He argued that a presidential term should be judged by measurable results rather than promises and political rhetoric.
Drawing an analogy with a university degree, he said a student who spends four years in school is expected to graduate, just as a government should be able to demonstrate what it achieved after four years.
“Four years is enough for a determined leader to help his people,” he declared.
He said the blueprint, therefore, focuses on measurable improvements in security, food, healthcare, education, housing, employment, water, energy, transportation, justice and digital access.
He proposed a four-year programme target of 75,000 megawatts of electricity generated from Nigeria’s own resources, promising to revive the four public refineries and establish 36 modular refineries, while creating room for private investors to build refineries and export petroleum products.
On fuel prices, he projected that petrol could come down to about N200 per litre, arguing that domestic refining and a more productive economy would reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum products.
He equally promised to defeat insecurity within four years, arguing that security must be tackled alongside unemployment, poverty, food insecurity, education and economic opportunity.
He said Nigeria’s problems were not caused by a lack of resources or capable citizens but by the failure to organise those resources effectively for national development.
Adebayo described the blueprint as a working document intended to generate national debate rather than another campaign manifesto.
“This policy has been given to Nigerians to start a conversation, not to end it,” he said, challenging Nigerians and political opponents to scrutinise the proposals and offer better ideas.
A major feature of the blueprint is its proposal to make Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution a practical framework for governance, with the government’s programmes linked to measurable national objectives and stronger mechanisms for monitoring performance.
He urged Nigerians to make the 2027 election a contest of ideas, competence and measurable results rather than ethnicity, personality or political connections.
He warned that without political power to implement the proposal; it could become another piece of paper that never changes the lives of Nigerians.
“Today is not for long speeches,” he said. “Today is to challenge you to read this and make it better. The only way it will cease to be just an idea or a piece of paper is for us to be in government,” he said.
He described the unveiling as the beginning of a new political direction aimed at making Nigeria’s independence meaningful to the present generation.
“This is the beginning of a government that works. This is the beginning of us taking control of our country,” he declared.
