The Social Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has challenged young Nigerians to convert their growing interest in politics into active participation at the grassroots ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Adebayo said political influence should not end with social media debates, professional networks or intellectual arguments, insisting that the real contest takes place in communities where voters make their choices.
He spoke in Abuja while receiving executives of the Young Professionals for Social Change and the Confederation of West African Youths, who visited the SDP leadership to discuss governance and policy reform.
The SDP candidate urged the young professionals to take their message to their neighbourhoods and engage voters directly.
“Go back to our own districts. Politics is done in the neighbourhoods—166,874 polling units,” Adebayo said.
He argued that professional influence becomes limited when it does not translate into meaningful engagement with ordinary citizens at the community level.
According to him, Nigeria’s young generation should see the country’s challenges not only as problems to complain about but also as an opportunity to participate in rebuilding its institutions.
Adebayo also warned against what he described as defeatism, religious divisions and elitism, saying Nigeria needed a common national purpose rather than isolated examples of individual brilliance.
He linked the SDP’s political philosophy to the welfare objectives contained in Chapter Two of the Nigerian Constitution, saying the party was seeking to build political participation around a shared national agenda.
The former independence struggle also featured in his appeal to the youth, with Adebayo citing the role of West African students in mobilising for self-government during the colonial era.
He urged the younger generation to demonstrate a similar unity of purpose in addressing contemporary governance challenges.
The party’s Vice Presidential candidate, Professor Usman Bugaje, told the gathering that political will and leadership competence were central to tackling Nigeria’s development challenges.
Bugaje cited the development experiences of Japan, South Korea and Singapore as examples of countries that transformed their societies through sustained policy direction and leadership.
SDP National Chairman, Professor Abubakar Sadiq Gombe, meanwhile, focused on voter apathy, urging the visiting youth groups to mobilise Nigerians who do not participate in elections.
Gombe said young professionals should expand civic enlightenment across constituencies, arguing that greater participation was necessary if young Nigerians wanted to influence the country’s political direction.
The meeting reflects the wider mobilisation of professional and youth groups by political parties ahead of the 2027 elections, with parties seeking to turn youth engagement into organised participation at the grassroots.
For the SDP, Adebayo’s message was clear: political conversations must move from the screen to the streets, communities and polling units.