SDP presidential candidate Adewole Adebayo has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of running a government more keen on squeezing taxes than creating jobs and opportunity.
Speaking in a televised interview, Adebayo said the Tinubu administration favors “aggressive revenue extraction” over productivity and economic growth. He insisted he was not against taxes, but argued government must first make it possible for citizens and businesses to thrive before piling on levies. “You cannot form a government for the purposes solely of extracting tax from the people,” he said.
Adebayo painted the proper role of government as one that boosts productivity, backs innovation and helps small firms grow into job-creating enterprises. “A government is a facilitator. A government is not a pickpocket,” he declared.
He warned current policies are stifling entrepreneurship and making life hard for ordinary Nigerians. Pointing to young entrepreneurs, Adebayo said the state should invest in their potential rather than crush them early. “You make sure that this young man who is driving Uber, if I invest a little in him, he can be manufacturing drones for me because he has intellectual capacity,” he said.
“If you have a small business, you are not immediately trying to take the money of that business. You think of how it can grow into a franchise across West Africa and become a Nigerian brand,” he added.
Adebayo accused the administration of burdening citizens with taxes that weaken buying power: “The idea is not what he is doing, which is to extract tax and kill you right at the beginning.” He also renewed his attack on fuel subsidy removal: “I said President Tinubu’s policies would ruin the economy and ruin purchasing power for the people,” and warned, “No matter how much your organisation pays you in Nigeria, you cannot earn an honest living.”
He said an SDP government would focus on productivity, industrial growth and support for small businesses.
