ADC slams Tinubu over economic hardship claims

The African Democratic Congress has opposed President Bola Tinubu over his recent criticism of opposition parties.

ADC accused the President of presiding over “one of the most painful periods in Nigeria’s democratic history” and warning against what it described as early signs of plans to rig the 2027 general elections.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the opposition party reacted to remarks made by Tinubu during his acceptance speech after emerging as the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress for the 2027 election.

Tinubu had said opposition leaders lacked vision and would only take Nigeria backwards if entrusted with power.

But the ADC said it was “both ironic and tragic” for the President to make such claims at a time when millions of Nigerians were battling economic hardship, insecurity, and rising poverty.

“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 stated.

The ADC argued that Tinubu’s administration had failed to address worsening inflation, food insecurity, and insecurity across the country, insisting that Nigerians were experiencing unprecedented hardship under the current government.

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

The party further accused the administration of overseeing a collapse in living standards, claiming millions of households had been forced to reduce meals while businesses were shutting down under mounting economic pressure.

“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,” Abdullahi said.

Since assuming office in May 2023, Tinubu’s administration has implemented sweeping economic reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of foreign exchange windows. While the government maintains that the measures are necessary to stabilise the economy and attract investment, critics say the policies have triggered soaring inflation, a sharp depreciation of the naira, and increased hardship for ordinary Nigerians.

The ADC said the opposition could not be blamed for the country’s current economic realities.

“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 party declared.

It added that Nigerians were no longer interested in “political grandstanding” but wanted answers to pressing questions about food prices, insecurity, and rising poverty.

“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 added.

It also took issue with the outcome of the APC presidential primary, in which Tinubu was announced to have secured 10.99 million votes.

Describing the figure as an “unbelievable concoction,” the party alleged that it could be part of a broader attempt to condition Nigerians ahead of the 2027 elections.

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

“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.”

The APC has yet to officially respond to the ADC’s allegations.

Meanwhile, Tinubu on Sunday said the economic reforms pursued by his administration had been painful not only for ordinary Nigerians but also for him personally, adding that he had lost sleep and weight alongside citizens bearing the burden of the reforms.

Addressing party leaders and supporters at the Bola Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja immediately after being declared winner of the APC presidential primary with 10,999,162 votes, Tinubu said he shares in the collective anguish of the nation in the past three years of sweeping fiscal and economic reforms.