By Sunday Ani
Ahead of President Bola Tinubu’s one-year anniversary in office on May 29, 2024, businessman and presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 general election, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has expressed his views on the state of democracy in Nigeria.
Adebayo argued that Nigeria has not yet achieved true democracy but is instead in a state of “civil rule.” He likened the situation to a student preparing for medical school by completing pre-med courses.
“My impression of our democracy is that democracy is yet to come. What we are having are attempts towards democracy. So, we are like somebody who wants to study medicine and is doing pre-med,” Adebayo said. “We are like those days when they used to have A-levels or higher school. You were required to do your HSC1 and HSC2 because you wanted to enter university.”
“From 1999 till now, we have been under civilian rule, but we have not managed to enter into democracy because democracy is not a permanent state. It is the presence of certain dynamics,” he added.
Regarding Tinubu’s performance in office, Adebayo expressed a lack of disappointment, stating that the president has been consistent with his campaign promises, including the removal of fuel subsidies.
“I’m one of the few Nigerians who are not disappointed. I’m also one of the few Nigerians that are not surprised,” Adebayo said. “I’m in the position of a doctor, monitoring a diabetic patient who has some issues with breathing, but who is first to take the highest amount of sugar and who smokes like a chain smoker.”
“So, if I see that patient still alive after three years, I am pleasantly surprised. If the patient is a little sick, I will not be surprised,” he continued.
Adebayo acknowledged that the economic situation has led to public complaints, but he defended Tinubu’s actions, stating that he had anticipated the challenges and consequences of the decisions that would need to be made.
“He’s doing them almost like somebody following a playbook of how he’s going to do it, so I cannot say I’m disappointed. He’s a politician who keeps his words and he’s been keeping his words. So, it’s not like, oh, he was promising something else and when he came in, he started doing some other thing else,” Adebayo said.
“He’s doing exactly what he said he would do and if you also follow his governance record as Lagos governor for eight years, that’s exactly what he’s doing now,” he concluded.
