SDP Presidential Candidate Adebayo Condemns Student Loan Policy

The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the 2027 general elections, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has labelled the Federal Government’s student loan policy as a crime against Nigerians, saying education must be free, compulsory, and of high quality.

Adebayo, who spoke in an interview with Vanguard after emerging as the SDP presidential candidate, said Nigeria’s education system was being weakened by what he described as poor policy choices and deliberate lowering of standards, it was reported.

Adebayo was most critical of the policy of the Federal Government on students’ loans, describing it as unconstitutional and unfair to young Nigerians.

Asked if he would end student loans if elected, he said, “Student loans are a crime.”

Pressed, he said: “Yes. It’s a crime against the constitution and the people.”

The SDP candidate said education should not be paid for by student loans, as many of today’s political leaders had free education.

“Education is supposed to be free, compulsory and qualitative, so why should students borrow money for education? he asked. The members of the National Assembly did not take loans for their own education. They had free education.

“Education should be free because if you don’t invest in your people you destroy your society. You will turn scientists into taxi-drivers. You destroy civilization and insecurity grows because the people who should become innovators are abandoned. APC is building that kind of society.

Adebayo said a government that refuses to invest in education would breed a society characterised by unemployment, insecurity and wasted talent.

If elected in 2027, the SDP would focus on public education, social welfare and institutional accountability, he said.

He also accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of being more interested in winning elections than solving the daily challenges of Nigerians, such as food, transport, healthcare, jobs and education.

The SDP candidate said his party would pursue what he called ‘kitchen table politics’ which he explained as a governance philosophy centred on the everyday survival needs of ordinary Nigerians.

Adebayo Reacts To SDP Ticket
Speaking on his emergence as the SDP presidential candidate, Adebayo said he viewed the nomination as a new opportunity for the country and its citizens.

He said it felt good, but it was challenging. It’s a new opportunity for the country and for the sovereign people of this country who need a good government and a good plan.”

The SDP candidate said the party was positioning itself as an ideological alternative to the ruling party ahead of the 2027 polls.

He dismissed suggestions that his rise as a consensus candidate would generate bad blood in the party, saying the SDP understood the need to avoid internal rifts when up against an incumbent government.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said. The party knows three things. First, we are dealing with a sitting government, we cannot have internal struggles. Secondly, we are, fundamentally, an ideological party, so it’s not about personality triumphs.”

Adebayo also addressed the internal crisis involving some officials of the SDP including the legal issues surrounding the former National Chairman of the party.

“I am not going to comment on matters that are already before the courts, especially where a person is facing a criminal trial,” he said.

The SDP candidate, another lawyer, said rule of law must be allowed to prevail.

‘Well, I’m in a corner here because I’m a lawyer,’ he said. Once something is in court, particularly where someone is at risk of losing their liberty and facing a criminal trial, it would be unethical for me to comment on it.

‘But I hope the rule of law will work and a political settlement can be reached without compromising the need not to encourage criminality or say criminality is politics. “I think we should just let the law take its course.”

Adebayo said the disciplinary powers of the party must be exercised in accordance with the SDP constitution, adding that members facing disciplinary action also had a duty to respect party processes.

He said institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission and the police should not take sides in internal party matters but should perform their duties fairly.

“If you want to discipline somebody you have to follow the law and if you are facing disciplinary action you have to respect it. If you are not happy, you can go to the appellate part of it. “Institutions like INEC and the police should not take sides, they should do their own duty.”

‘Taking Money Is Not Politics’
On the allegation concerning N35 million and the decision to take the matter beyond internal party settlement Adebayo said allegations of financial misconduct should not be dismissed as mere politics.

He, however, pointed out that anyone accused of wrongdoing must be presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court.

He said, “What I can say as a lawyer is that someone is alleged to be involved in several amounts, maybe you’re mentioning just one, and the person has pleaded not guilty in a court of law. “The law expects me to assume the person is innocent and the accusers to provide evidence.”

Adebayo warned against using political usefulness as a reason to protect anyone from accountability.

He said siding with an accused person because of political benefit would send the wrong signal just as condemning a suspect without trial would also amount to disrespect for the law.

“The best thing is to let the law work,” he said. Stealing money is no laughing matter. “Trust is no joke. Once people went to jail for 20 naira; today VIPs steal billions and get applause. “Let’s get rid of that attitude.

“Money is the property of an institution and if you had access to it because of your office, you have to be accountable.”

Adebayo was asked whether he had spoken to supporters seen pulling down the gate of the party secretariat and he said he had not.

He said the police had questions to answer about what happened.

“No,” he replied. It is the police that are responsible for me because you don’t escort criminals to go and pull down gates.”

Asked if people came with the police, he said: ‘It’s the police who brought them, and the police used them to pull down the gates because they didn’t want to do it themselves’.

But Adebayo said he was not physically present when the incident happened, adding that he only saw what happened on television after he had completed his screening and left the venue.

He said the party had written to the Inspector General of Police and the Commissioner of Police on the issue.

As per him, the party officials were waiting to see what action would be taken by the police authorities before taking the next step.

SDP is for the ordinary Nigerian – Adebayo
According to Adebayo, the SDP is short for Social Democratic Party and was created to respond to the social and economic problems affecting ordinary Nigerians.

The SDP’s focus would be on issues that affect families directly, including food, transportation, health care, jobs, education and survival, he said.

He described the party’s agenda as “kitchen table” politics, saying it was about the daily struggles of Nigerians and not elite political calculations.

“The SDP is the party that has solutions to your social problems without sounding too professorial,” Adebayo said. This is a party for regular people. Then you wake up in the morning and you think about feeding your family, transport costs, education, food, healthcare, jobs, survival, those are the issues social democratic parties focus on.

That’s why in some countries it’s called the ‘kitchen table manifesto’. It’s the day-to-day.”

He condemned the APC over the subsidy removal, saying a social democratic government would not take such a decision without considering its effect on transport, food, housing, jobs and people’s savings.

He said: “A social democrat does not wake up and remove subsidies without thinking about the impact on transport, food, housing, jobs and people’s savings. But if you’re APC, you’re about winning elections and congratulating yourselves afterwards.”

‘Hungry people don’t care about region’
On the argument that it would be difficult for him as a South-West candidate to defeat President Bola Tinubu, who is also from the same region, Adebayo also dismissed it.

The SDP would not campaign on ethnic or regional sentiment, he said.

He said Nigerians grappling with hunger, high fuel prices, poor schools and economic hardship would not judge leadership on the basis of regional identity alone.

“We don’t think like that in SDP,” he said. A hungry person in the South West remains hungry. Nobody will care about regional identity if they’re buying petrol at those ridiculous prices.

“A student taking loans to attend schools where lecturers are not paid and laboratories are empty will not remember that the president is from the South West.”

The SDP candidate accused the APC of building politics around electoral advantage rather than governance results.

Nigeria needed a party dedicated to social progress, he said, not one based on ethnicity or religion.

‘APC Planting Moles In Opposition Parties
Adebayo also claimed that the APC was working to destabilise opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Asked if the SDP had suffered infiltration by political moles, he replied in the affirmative.

We are dealing with that, he said. President Tinubu wishes to be the only man in the race. But that’s not unusual. “PDP governments also attacked opposition parties during Obasanjo’s era.

The SDP candidate stated that such actions were part of a long history of ruling parties in Nigeria trying to weaken platforms of opposition.

But he said leadership is still important in helping party members understand the danger of transactional politics.

“They will always exist,” he said. The important thing is leadership and to help people understand that transactional politics may give temporary benefits but the long-term consequences are dangerous for the country.

Adebayo said he was not directly in charge of the party’s operations, adding that his role as the presidential candidate was ideological and philosophical.

“Education Reforms Are Deformations”
Adebayo dismissed the description of the policies as reforms, including lower cut-off marks and shortened routes for teacher training, on recent changes in the education sector.

He called them “deformations” and accused the government of lowering standards in a way that would harm the country’s future.

“They are not reforms, they are deformations,” he said. “The quality of people in government is the lowest and they want standards to fall because an educated population asks questions and challenges bad governance.”

Education, according to Adebayo, helps in the development of critical thinking and assists citizens to rise above ethnicity, religion and political manipulation.

He said poor education policy was part of the cause of producing unemployable youths.

He said Nigeria has to return to a system where schools engage young people productively from morning till evening via academic work, physical education, extracurricular activities, prep classes and exam coaching.

“The solution is not hard. Public schools in our day filled students with useful knowledge from dawn to dark. We had phys-ed, extra-curricular activities, prep classes and exam coaching. Society has to occupy young people constructively from childhood.”