Presidential Acceptance Speech

I thank the Almighty God for making today a reality for all Nigerians, for all the black people of the world, for the African continents, for the people who are members of the Social Democratic Party, and for all those who are in their villages wondering whether they will sleep well tonight.

Those who many years after graduation from university, polytechnic, colleges are wondering when is this job going to come? Many who are working very hard but the economy of the government of the day makes them look lazy because when they go home the children will ask the question why is there no food? Why was I sent out of school with no school fees paid? Why is grandma sick and we cannot take her to the hospital? Why am I in China hiding from immigration? Just to earn a living when I have a country of my own.

Why are the presidents of countries calling me criminals, outcasts, illegals and threaten me to deport me? And I have no answer when I have a country that is my own. Why do I see the leaders of my country coming to where I labour every day in the snow, buying houses they will not sleep in, keeping money in banks that have more money than Nigeria? Why is it that when the president has a toothache, he goes to France and women are giving birth under trees?

If you have been asking these QUESTIONS, that WHY over 100 years after the amalgamation of Nigeria, we are still living in suspicion of one another? Children are still rejecting NYSC posting because they see some parts of Nigeria as unwelcoming. Why do politicians come on television every day and practically bath with the blood of the innocent? Why is there cooperation between the government and the bandits? Why is Nigeria military playing back and forth with terrorists? Why do we lose our lives and still lose our money? Why do we have no good leadership and time is running out on us? Why?

The answer is that God is taking His time to give us a day like this.

So, anyone who is here, I thank you for coming. I know what it has taken to be here. You travelled through insecurity, through difficulty, through bad roads. You travelled to come here despite the threats. We saw earlier today how the powers that be have been putting pressure on the government of this state to kick us out. So, I congratulate Governor Bala Muhammad, the governor of Bauchi state, for being a true representative of democracy, and for being a great successor to our leader, Mallam Sa'adu Zungur, the father of revolutionary politics in Nigeria. For being a great successor to Mallam Aminu Kano.

Because we are hungry, we are homeless, we are jobless, we are without peace, we are without leadership. Those are big problems we have. But, we have a bigger problem. The little freedom we have is about to be taken away from us.

So, the subject of my speech today to all Nigerians is simply this, use your freedom while you still have it. Use your freedom to give yourself multi-party democracy. People have told me that Nigeria is at the danger of one-party rule. I said, "don't worry about that." The real problem is that we are at the danger of one-man rule, because one-man rule is where they are taking us to, because the most oppressed political party today is the APC. What we are doing here today, they cannot do it. They wait for one person to choose everybody for them.

Nigerians need diversity. We need different political parties who believe in different things, but who are loyal to the Federal Republic of Nigeria?

The Social Democratic Party - we are always victorious. Because the mere existence of the SDP, the mere ability to gather in Bauchi today to hold our convention despite the terror of the government despite the pressure put on INEC , the saddest man in Nigeria today the most oppressed man in Nigeria today he is Professor Joash Amupitan, the chairman of INEC. Because they named him the chairman of INEC, but they won't let him do the job. They tell him which party to register, which one not to register. They tell him which convention to attend, which one not to attend. They tell him which leader to recognize, which one not to recognize.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not satisfied to be the presidential candidate of APC. No. Bola Ahmed Tinubu wants to be the presidential candidate of APC, PDP, Labour, SDP, NYSC. If you have a birthday party, he wants to be the presidential candidate of YOUR BIRTHDAY PARTY. THE GREED FOR power has been defined. The greed for money has been detected. But the greed for the soul of the country, that's one we cannot allow. That is why WE IN THE SDP are going to contest the presidential election taking place in January 2027 with me as your flag bearer. Inshallah, by God's grace we will win for the people of Nigeria.

We will contest 109 senatorial seats with God-fearing patriotic Nigerians. And we will win and form majority in the Senate so that the Senate will not be a joking rubber stamp led by Akpabio as it is today. We will run 360 seats of the House of Representatives. And we will win so that we can have a people's house that is truly representative. Not the house boy speakership we have now with Speaker Abbas. We will run in all the governorships so that we will have governors who are not marking as their greatest achievement leaving their state ungoverned. Helping a politician to go and submit his nomination form. You will have governors the way it was in those days with Okparaku, with Ambrose Alli, with Jakande, with Abubakar Rimi, with Solomon Lar, with so many great governors who were like presidents in their own states. Who could solve the problems of their people, who created university, created secondary school, created primary school, eliminate and reduce poverty, and made their people happy even though they were in different political parties from the government at the centre. Courageous people representing their people, not house boys grovelling for attention or political contractors or lobbyists in Abuja. We will give you governors that will govern you well.

And in all the HOUSES of ASSEMBLY, we will give you lawmakers who will remind the governors that they are not God. That they are servants of the people. That they need to do what the constitution says. And they need to spend the money of the people on the welfare of the people.

Poverty is best attacked at the root. You cannot have poverty eradicated if you don't have state governments that are working. And state governments that are working will lead to local governments that are working. The 776 local governments in Nigeria 22 of our 776 local governments have more money than some countries in Africa. I counted 22 of our local governments, that when you look at the money coming to them, it is more than money coming to some African countries. Yet, where is the impact?

So, today is not about me. Even though I give God the glory that I witness today, and I thank you for the honour done to me. But today is not about me. If it was about me, I would be in America now continuing to practice my law. If it was about me, I would be in Singapore practicing as an arbitrator. If it was about me, I would be in one of my estates enjoying my life. But it's about the history. It's about the destiny. It cannot be said that black people have freedom, but they don't know what to do with it. That Nigerians have resources, riches, and all the abundant human resources, but look at them. It would have been better for them not to have gained independence from the British. Look at their lives. This is why I am here.

I am not an enemy of any politician. I am not an enemy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. But I am an enemy of poverty. And poverty is Tinubu's friend. I'm an enemy of corruption. And corruption is his profession. I am an enemy of injustice. Injustice is his hobby. I'm an enemy of unaccountability. And Tinubu is a wanna-be emperor. I am an enemy of autocracy. And no greater tyrant is around than Bola Ahmed Tinubu. That is the essence of our quarrel.

That is why he wants to destroy the SDP and destroy what we are doing today. But what we are doing today, the courage comes from God.

I want President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to know that Nigerians have shown him love. Even those of us who didn't want him to get there. When he got there, we did not give him any trouble. It was with tears in my eyes when I congratulated him when they said he won the election. I first prayed to God for forgiveness. But I congratulated him. And I told him, "Go and win now because you did not win to get there. But go and win now by doing good." And when he came, every idea that I knew, I went on television selling the ideas to him. "Go and do this. Go and do that. Don't punish your people."

Those of us who came to our convention on June 8th, 2022 at the International Conference Centre, the money with which you came to the convention, you needed 15 times that amount to pay transport now. Why? Because somebody who did not win election was given the election, congratulated by everybody, came there and said, "Subsidy is gone." He had no minister, no advisor, shows nobody. He just went there, couldn't even stand well on his leg, but he said, "Subsidy is gone." At that moment, I knew Tinubu's chance of succeeding was gone. Today, he has not created any jobs, but trillions of subsidy savings have disappeared. He has borrowed more money than we have borrowed since independence. Yet, he cannot pay contractors. And he cannot account for the money. He had a very bad Minister of Finance who used to be right once in a month. Now, he has brought one tax collector who knows nothing about economics. Every day, tax, tax, tax, tax. So, he's making it impossible for him to even execute the remainder of his term. And we need to pray to God Almighty for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to have good health to finish his term, May 29th, 2027. And to choose a country of his choice and go and do his retirement there.

Therefore, let us focus on the next challenge. I can tell you by the grace of almighty God, in sha Allah, by May 27th, 2027, Tinubu is gone. But, do not let us waste the subsidy of Tinubu being gone the way Tinubu wasted the subsidy of petrol. Let us not waste our votes. It will be the greatest tragedy, and God forbid, that after Tinubu's terrible under-performance, misbehaviour, malfeasance, corruption, that the next president will look LIKE HIM. Let Tinubu not laugh at us and say you have kicked me out now. See the person who replaced me is even worse than me. So, we need to be cautious. We need to come together.

I appeal to the opposition elements in Nigeria. By opposition, I don't mean politicians. Anybody who opposes corruption, who opposes insecurity, who opposes cheating, who opposes division, tribalism, who opposes injustice, they are the real opposition. Forget about your differences about religion, ethnicity, gender, age, political party, come together. Rally with the SDP.

I thank the Labour Party for coming here, and I thank the Action Alliance for coming here. I've gotten messages from many leaders of political parties. My friend and brother Tanimu Turaki SAN, the chairman of PDP is coming, but he has not arrived here, but he has sent good will messages ahead. And many many party leaders. We are uniting not against one man. We are united for one purpose. I look at the ages of those who are here and I can tell you did not attend this convention for yourself. You attended this convention for your children and for history and for leadership to come to Nigeria.

And I will tell you a few things we will do in this country.

There is a book that brought us together. It's called the Constitution of Nigeria. That book has a chapter called chapter two, Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy from section 13 to section 23. Read that and use that to choose your government. It starts by saying that power belongs to the people of Nigeria and it is from the people that power and government will derive. Do you agree? So, the power that will be given to the SDP and the Adebayo presidency will come from the people of Nigeria. We will not snatch it. We will not grab it. We will not run away with it. And it says next; The fundamental principle of Nigeria will be Justice and Social Democracy. It is in our constitution. We are the Social Democratic Party. We derive from the Constitution. It says that the resources of Nigeria will be used for the welfare and security of Nigerians.

That is why we can never be a member, a supporter a partner of the APC because they don't believe in using the resources of Nigeria for the welfare or security of Nigeria.

Of all the people who have had the privilege to govern Nigeria there's none of them that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu copies anything good from. THE ONLY PERSON that he WANTS TO BE LIKE is a man from Great Britain called Taubman Goldie. Taubman Goldie was a man who formed the Royal Niger Company and said Nigeria is a market. I am buying Nigeria and everybody in Nigeria belongs to me. They work for me. They cannot sell their goods without me. They cannot render any services without me. They cannot export without me. And Taubman Goldie formed the Royal Niger Company. They were the people who removed (Oba) Ovonramwen from Benin. Ovonramwen Nogbaisi from Benin City in 1896. They were the one who removed Jaja of Opobo. They were the ones imposing on our leaders to impose their will to buy Nigeria as a business. And Bola Ahmed Tinubu doesn't see himself as your president. He sees you as commodities to buy and sell. He's the number one businessman using the government power to amass wealth for himself and his cronies. Nothing more, nothing less.

That is why we need to institute a government of the people that will spend money on the welfare of the people. Every government we knew Sir Ahmadu Bello, may Almighty Allah remember him with forgiveness. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, may the peace of God meet him wherever he is. Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo. May God forgive his sins and remember him in paradise. Tafawa Abubakar Balewa in whose eponymous stadium we are standing today. Dr. Michael Okpara. Everyone who has ever ruled Nigeria had their cardinal points. What is the Tinubu's cardinal point? Snatch, grab, and run away with it.

That is the reason why we need to understand that politics is not comedy. Politics determines whether you sleep well AT HOME. Politics determines that when you give birth to a child and you are doing the christening or naming ceremony of that child you have the confidence that that child will go to school, will get married, graduate, have children, and take care of you. But without politics being right, PEOPLE ARE IN THEIR villages now as we gather here being killed by terrorists and bandits who are partners of elements in government. People are having avoidable accidents on the road because of bad government arising from bad politics.

So, the mandate you have given me today will be used to articulate 500 programs at the end of which in the first 18 MONTHS of our administration poverty in Nigeria will reduce to 2%. The mandate you have given to me today we will campaign to all parts of Nigeria with a job and works and employment program that will reduce unemployment to 4% in 2 years. With the mandate you have given to me today we will use 1/3 of the savings we make from not being a corrupt government to put road in every village, every hamlet, every street in Nigeria in 4 years.

With the mandate you have given to us today we will go to Nigerian people to make education qualitative, free and compulsory for every youth in Nigeria. And our education will start from elementary school, continue to primary school, continue to secondary school, continue to university, polytechnics, colleges and continue until you get a job. Until you get a job, you have not graduated. Our jobs program combined with our education program will take you from the cradle to the office where you are going to work.

The mandate you have given to us today will give qualitative free and affordable health care to every Nigerian wherever you are. Your national identity number, NIN, will be your health insurance number as well. Every Nigerian, however healthy you are, will have four medical examination every year. Every year wherever you are in Nigeria, you will have four free medical scanning, screening to see that the devil has not put any disease in your body that can kill you suddenly. All the Nigerian companies that have been sold for pennies, stolen, cannibalized, asset stripped, we will reconstitute every company, every enterprise that we inherited from our leaders in the first and second republic. Ajaokuta will work. Oku Iboku Paper m#ill will work. Aladja Steel will work. Sugar Company - Bacita - and others will work. Our refineries will work. Kaduna textile will work. Gombe textile will work. Every state will have textile cement, carpentry, wood, everything so that our people will not only have factories, they will have housing estates, they will have staff school, they will have staff club, they will have everything that will reconstitute our society back.

With the mandate you have given us today, we will go around Nigeria to preach a mandate of territorial integrity. There is no square inch of Nigeria where a terrorist can sound. There is no part of Nigeria where a bandit can stop anybody from going anywhere. The bandits will go when Tinubu goes. The terrorists will follow Tinubu, their business partner, and go. Boko Haram, who has his headquarter in the villa, when the man in the villa goes, Boko Haram goes with him.

We are going to have a strong army. The army I used to know, the army members of my family served in and lost their lives. The army of Nigeria that something happened in Congo, they say call Nigeria. Something happened in Liberia, they say call Nigeria. Something happened in Sierra Leone, they say call Nigeria. Sudan, call Nigeria. Lebanon, call Nigeria. Rhodesia, call Nigeria. I standing before you here because of the exploits of Nigeria armed forces. I was appointed by the United Nations and ECOWAS as a commissioner to rebuild Liberia after the war because they said somebody from Nigeria must be there, and I was appointed to go there. I who was asked to go and reconstitute a society in Liberia I'm struggling to travel around in my country. No.

If Tinubu is not ashamed we are ashamed on his behalf. How can you be Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and you cannot come out of your house? Because you have mortgaged your conscience for money. Because you want to win election with the help of terrorists and their sponsors. That is why the president of Nigeria will hear that his people have been killed dastardly way that Angwan Rukuba (attack) and he will manage after much persuasion, he will be so cowardly to stop at Jos airport and be complaining that this place is too hot, there's no electricity. Forgetting that he's the one in charge of electricity. He's the one who swallowed the electricity money. And we had to go and comfort the community there that what Tinubu did does not represent Nigeria. We are better than this. That was why we went there.

And I thank Prophet Isa El-Buba Sadiq for the courage to stand and calm the people of that community. Otherwise, casualties after casualties would have continued today. Prophet, may God reward you. And may you witness the greatest country in the world, Nigeria.

It is for this reason that people like Professor Usman Bugaje are using their intellect both in Western education and Islamic doctrines to remind us that the only service we can render in Nigeria is to follow Truth and do Justice. And he has paid a major price for it. Right from the time he was in the State House as an advisor, a lonely advisor, the last man who will stand on the side of the Truth. To when he went to the House of Representatives and they said, "Oh, this man is too truthful. This man is too patriotic. He cannot be our Speaker. We need somebody who doesn't know what power is all about." And today, he has passed many opportunities to be on the side of the Truth and to unite Nigerians to remind our people that God did not tell Muslims to vote for Muslims. The almighty Allah did not tell Muslims to vote for Muslims. He said, "Vote for justice, a just leader." The Bible and Jesus Christ did not tell Christians to vote for Christians. He said, "Vote for the righteous because when the righteous are on the throne, the people will rejoice."

Therefore, in this coming election, don't ask yourself, "What is this candidate going to give me personally?" Don't do that. Don't say, "Is candidate is my relative or my friend." Don't say, "Is this candidate a person of my religion?" Don't say, "This candidate is not my friend, so therefore I block him." Ask yourself one question. Does this candidate deserve this office? Does he have what it takes to execute this office? Will this candidate perform? That is how Almighty Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala (Glory be to Him, the Exalted) and that is how Jesus Christ our Saviour said we should choose leaders.

Therefore, I know Nigerians, we are very good at crying to God. After we have used our hand to throw away opportunities. Before you cry to God, speak to yourself. It is not the bad nature of politicians alone that is responsible for the wreck state of Nigeria today. It is the refusal of the citizens to follow the Truth, to stand by it.

That is why I am congratulating you today that despite the desire for a one-party state, despite for a desire for a one-man rule, you have travelled from all walks of life, risked your life to be here, and signal to Nigeria that SDP is an independent, undefeated, self-propelled champion of Nigeria democracy and good governance, and we should be elected for president, national assembly, governorship, and state assembly.

And I will say finally, work with me, for I am your servant. I have no desire. It is not my turn. I'm not in Tinubu. It is not my turn. It is the turn of the ordinary people of Nigeria. It is the turn of the widows to have succour. Nigeria will be proud, Africa will be proud, and all the black people will say, "Finally, Nigeria has got it right.

"May God bless the Federal Government of Nigeria. May God bless the Social Democratic Party”

SDP … PROGRESS.