The Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) presidential candidate for 2027, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has urged President Bola Tinubu to go home and let Nigeria breathe.
Adebayo made the call in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday.
He was responding to the President’s plan to opt out of campaign activities in some states ahead of the presidential election.
Tinubu spoke at the inauguration of the APC Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja, where he urged members to take the party’s message to Nigerians across the states and local government areas while he continued to attend to matters of governance.
In response, Adebayo said that if Tinubu was too tired to campaign, he was too weak to govern.
In a statement signed by his presidential campaign’s Chief Communications Adviser, Comrade Mark Adebayo, the SDP candidate described Tinubu as a “president in absentia” at a time when Nigeria needs hands-on leadership.
Adebayo said, “Nigeria is too complex, too dynamic, and currently too distressed to be governed by remote control.”
He cited what he called repeated instances of the President governing from a distance, including prolonged medical vacations disguised as working visits, absences during national emergencies, and reliance on proxies to announce government policies.
The SDP candidate added: “We have seen repeated instances where the President is visibly missing when the country needs reassurance.
“From unannounced foreign trips during critical economic decisions to his complete silence during widespread regional protests, he has consistently acted like a president in absentia. If you are too tired to campaign, you are too weak to govern.”
Adebayo alleged that Tinubu’s decision to stay off the campaign trail was not about strategy but fear.
“The excuse of bowing out of the 2027 campaign is a cowardly smokescreen. The truth is that the President is terrified of the Nigerian people,” he said.
According to Adebayo, the administration’s economic policies—including the fallout from fuel subsidy removal, skyrocketing inflation and currency instability—have made the President unpopular.
“He knows the pain his bad policies have inflicted on families. He is hiding because he cannot face public anger, and he knows any appearance on a campaign trail will be met with collective booing by a betrayed populace.”
Adebayo also said: “It is time to face reality: step aside, go home, and let this country breathe.”
He called on the administration to prioritise the national interest over political survival and to be transparent about the President’s capacity to lead for the remainder of his term.
