‘WHY SHOULD I HELP YOU?’ — Tinubu Bluntly Tells Opposition to Bear Election Hardship, Rejects Level Playing Field Demands

ABUJA — The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has pulled back the curtain on a high-stakes, behind-the-scenes showdown at the Presidential Villa, exposing a blunt and unapologetic refusal by President Bola Tinubu to guarantee a free and fair electoral landscape for opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.

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Narrating the explosive details of what transpired during a private meeting between an umbrella group of political parties and the President, Adebayo revealed that the opposition’s pleas for a level playing field were met with absolute political realism and a flat rejection from the Commander-in-Chief.

According to Adebayo, when the opposition leaders demanded firm institutional assurances that state machinery, security agencies, and the electoral umpire would not be manipulated to favor the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), President Tinubu did not mince words.

“Why should I give you any free and fair elections when I’m also a contestant?” President Tinubu allegedly shot back during the heated interaction. “I was in the opposition and I suffered and bore it like that. Now, it’s your turn — why should I help you when I have the majority in the House?”

The Ruthless Reality of Power

The disclosure has sent shockwaves through Nigeria’s political landscape, laying bare the aggressive, uncompromising survival strategy of the ruling class.

Tinubu’s reported response underscores a calculated political philosophy: that power is not served à la carte, and an incumbent under pressure has no democratic obligation to make the path easier for its challengers. By referencing his own decades-long struggle in the trenches of the opposition, Tinubu made it clear that he views electoral hardship as a political rite of passage that the current opposition must endure without presidential empathy.

Adebayo noted that the President’s stance heavily relied on his legislative dominance, using his massive majority in the National Assembly as a political shield against demands for fundamental electoral reforms.

Panic Waves and Shattered Hopes

The revelation has instantly deflated the hopes of several opposition factions who were quietly holding out for structural amendments to the Electoral Act to curb systemic rigging, voter suppression, and logistical manipulation.

With the President reportedly confirming that he will fully leverage his incumbency advantage as an active contestant in the 2027 race, the multi-party coalitions are waking up to a harsh operational reality. The disclosure explains why heavyweights within the opposition camps have faced crippling anxieties, with many top-tier figures backing out of front-line slots or refusing to run against what is shaping up to be an unyielding state machinery.

Opposition Forced to Regroup

Prince Adewole Adebayo’s explosive brief has thrown a massive wrench into the ongoing backroom alignment talks across the country.

With the clear signal that no institutional favors or level playing fields will be granted from the top, opposition strategists are warning that relying on conventional campaigns will lead to automatic defeat. The development is expected to force a rapid shift in strategy, pushing fractured groups to consider aggressive grassroots mobilization and total administrative unification as their only survival mechanism to counter the ruling party’s advantage.

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