Adewole Adebayo, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate for 2027, has accused President Bola Tinubu of failing in his constitutional responsibility as Commander-in-Chief to effectively lead the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Adebayo made the remarks while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
While expressing sympathy for the government and distancing himself from terrorists, Adebayo criticised the administration’s handling of the rising insecurity, killings, and kidnappings across the country.
He accused President Tinubu of neglecting core security duties in favour of political activities.
“First, my sympathy is with the government of my country. I support the government of my country, and I do not support terrorists. I am not going to use the exploits and escapades of terrorists to judge the future of the country.
“But let’s get something right: it is a failure. President Tinubu, as the Commander-in-Chief, has failed woefully to lead the Armed Forces correctly. He has failed woefully to pay attention to intelligence,” Adebayo said.
He further described the current administration as too slow to respond to security challenges, claiming that President Tinubu is devoting excessive time to politics at the expense of governance.
“He’s spending too much of his time on politics and diverting the attention of security advisers to helping him with his politics. And they are too slow,” he said.
The SDP candidate also cited the government’s response to a recent incident in Oyo State as evidence of its lack of urgency to situations and challenges faced by citizens.
“I saw that they went to Oyo State to commiserate with the community. I went there before them. They are the government in power; they need to be more serious than that,” he added.
