Prince Adewole Adebayo, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said they are managing their campaign based on good will and superiority of ideas on how to improve the country if elected at the polls.
those throwing money up and down to win the support of the people at the 2023 general election do not have more of it more than his team, he said.
The SDP presidential candidate bare his mind at the end of a-three day conference with presidential candidates of political parties, organised by Nigerian women search for good governance in Abuja.
Adebayo said if elected as president, amongst other legacies, he will bequeath to Nigeria responsible politics devoid of monetary inducement and violence which have been the bane of the country’s democracy and development.
“We are going to bring a responsible politics. If you have a good government but if that government leaves without leaving behind responsible politics, it doesn’t matter how much money you save, the next person will come with bad politics and ruin everything.
“So what we want to do now is to have responsible politics – it must be free from violence, excessive influence of money. If you see us the way we are managing our campaign, we are managing our campaign so that we will not rely on money.
“Many of these people who are throwing money up and down it is not as if they have more money than us. It is that in public life, good will is what you should seek, you don’t buy people, you don’t buy attention, use goodwill, make a good case,” he said.
The presidential hopeful also said if elected next year, his administration will address the issue of waste as in the case where the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) lost huge sums of money that could provide infrastructure and other services.
He said: “There is a lot of money that Nigeria has lost in the month of October that has not finished. It is enough to build roofs over the head of everybody here. The amount of money that NNPC loses every month is enough to put every child in school from primary to university.
“The amount of money we are losing in three months is enough to tar all roads in Nigeria. So these what I am coming to stop. There is nothing complicated there, you need compassion, you need care.”
Adebayo said if elected as president, amongst other legacies, he will bequeath to Nigeria responsible politics devoid of monetary inducement and violence which have been the bane of the country’s democracy and development.
“We are going to bring a responsible politics. If you have a good government but if that government leaves without leaving behind responsible politics, it doesn’t matter how much money you save, the next person will come with bad politics and ruin everything.
“So what we want to do now is to have responsible politics – it must be free from violence, excessive influence of money. If you see us the way we are managing our campaign, we are managing our campaign so that we will not rely on money.
“Many of these people who are throwing money up and down it is not as if they have more money than us. It is that in public life, good will is what you should seek, you don’t buy people, you don’t attention, use goodwill, make a good case,” he said.
The presidential hopeful also said if elected next year, his administration will address the issue of waste as in the case where the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) lost huge sums of money that could provide infrastructure and other services.
He said: “There is a lot of money that Nigeria has lost in the month of October that has not finished. It is enough to build roofs over the head of everybody here. The month of money that NNPC loses every month is enough to put every child in school from primary to university.
“The amount of money we are losing in three months is enough to tar all roads in Nigeria. So these what I am coming to stop. There is nothing complicated there, you need compassion, you need care.”
Adebayo further said his administration will take the perspective of a mother and house wife who manage the family very well despite the scarce resources, and empower women for the overall prosperity of the country.
According to him, a woman or wife walk up daily bothering on, “how will children dress up, how will they go to school; once they go to school they think when they come back what will they eat, who will pick them back from school.
“The way I will approach governance, women have a major role to play. I will empower families because failure to empower families is problem of Nigeria and if you want to empower families you have to empower women – because they know how to manage and they know how to care.”
On insecurity, the SDP presidential candidate said government under him will remove business men from security arrangement so that it will be properly addressed.
He said: “We are going to remove business men from security. You don’t understand those in government who are earning billions every month from insecurity and the contractors to see that this kind of money continues for a long time. So in our government, we are going to ensure that we take the perspective of a mother to say this war has to end it is not a business.”
In her remarks, Sadatu Abdullahi, the convener, Nigerian women search for good governance said the parley was to hear from presidential candidates, their plans for women empowerment and inclusiveness if voted so as to enable them make the decision as to who to support at the polls.
She said what Nigerian women were demanding was beyond the usual statutory positions such as minister in charge of women affairs and women leaders of political parties but total inclusion and empowerment that could enable them advance their cause in schemes of things in the male dominated society.
