‘Opposition will move Nigeria forward’, ADC replies Tinubu

• Says 10.99 Million “Votes” in APC primary a prelude to ruling party’s plans to rig 2027 election

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent comments attacking the opposition, describing them as self-serving and deeply insensitive.

While delivering his acceptance speech as the presidential candidate of the ruling APC in next year’s election, President Tinubu declared that opposition leaders would only take the country backwards because they lacked alternative vision.

However, in a swift reaction through statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said it was a grand irony that such a statement was coming from a president whose tenure would be remembered as one of the worst periods in Nigeria’s democratic history.

The ADC said, “With millions of Nigerians suffering under the President’s catastrophic economic policies, debts spiralling out of control, corruption enjoying unprecedented prosperity, and the nation flowing with the blood of innocent victims, it is indeed astonishing that the President could still attempt to position his government as a positive benchmark.

“If the opposition is going to take the country backwards, it would be to reset it from the edge of the dangerous precipice that the current administration has placed it on, because to continue on the same trajectory is to plunge the country into the abyss,” the party said.

The ADC also raised concerns over the APC presidential primary results, which allegedly gave Tinubu 10.99 million votes, describing the figure as an “unbelievable concoction” and warning that it could provide the basis for rigging the 2027 general elections.

The statement reads, “The African Democratic Congress (ADC) is genuinely shocked and saddened that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose administration has presided over one of the most painful periods in Nigeria’s democratic history, would speak so dismissively about the opposition and the Nigerian people while awarding himself a medal for one of the most catastrophic economic policies in recent history.

“It is both ironic and tragic that a government under whose watch nearly 35 million Nigerians are now projected to face acute food insecurity in 2026 would accuse the opposition of lacking ideas or vision.

“This is a government under which inflation has devastated household incomes, food prices have become unbearable, insecurity has continued to spread across the country, and millions of Nigerians now live with a level of economic anxiety and hopelessness never before experienced in recent national history.

“Under President Tinubu’s administration, millions of families have been forced to reduce meals, businesses are shutting down daily under unbearable economic pressure, and farmers across many parts of the country can no longer safely access their farmlands because of banditry, kidnappings, and violent attacks. International organisations have repeatedly warned that Nigeria is facing one of the worst food insecurity crises in the world, with recent assessments projecting that about 34.7 million Nigerians could face severe food and nutrition insecurity during the 2026 lean season.

“At the same time, over 2.3 million Nigerians remain displaced by violence and insecurity, while communities across the North West and North Central continue to suffer repeated attacks with little assurance of safety from the government.

“Yet, instead of humility, accountability, or empathy, President Tinubu has chosen to attack an opposition that has consistently demonstrated more seriousness about governance than many members of his own administration.

“The ADC finds it deeply unfortunate that a President under whose watch the naira has collapsed in value, purchasing power has evaporated, and poverty has deepened at an alarming rate would attempt to caricature the opposition as lacking vision. Nigerians know where they were before this government came into office, and they know where they are today.

“The truth is that the opposition did not create the hunger in the land. The opposition did not destroy the value of the naira.

‘The opposition did not create the insecurity that has turned farming communities into killing fields.

‘The opposition did not push businesses into collapse or force millions of young Nigerians into despair and economic uncertainty. “Nigerians understand clearly who is responsible for the hardship they are currently enduring, and no amount of political subterfuge can erase the reality of daily suffering across the country.

“President Tinubu must understand that Nigerians are no longer interested in speeches or political grandstanding.

“Nigerians are asking simple questions: Why is food unaffordable? Why are businesses collapsing? Why are citizens increasingly unsafe? Why are more Nigerians falling into poverty despite endless promises of reform and recovery?

“The ADC therefore says this clearly and unequivocally to President Tinubu: the opposition will move Nigeria forward. Nigeria cannot continue on this disastrous path of economic pain without measurable progress, worsening insecurity, institutional decline, and growing hopelessness.

“Nigerians deserve competent leadership, compassionate governance, and a government that understands that power exists to improve lives, not merely to retain control.

“The ADC also finds it bizarre that President Tinubu was announced to have secured 10.99 million votes in the APC presidential primary.

“In a process designed for President Tinubu to contest against himself, one may be tempted to dismiss the figure as laughable, if it were not recognisable for what it truly represents: a subtle attempt to set the stage and condition Nigerians for the kind of fantastic rigging being planned by the ruling party ahead of the 2027 elections”, it said.