African Democratic Congress (ADC) has berated the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for a “non-stop victory parade” in favour of President Bola Tinubu, accusing the party of breaching the electoral laws and mocking the citizens’ hardship with a premature re-election campaign.
In a statement, ADC spokesperson, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the choreographed endorsements rolling out from Abuja to Kano and the president’s campaign billboards lining the streets of Abuja flouted a reminder by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that campaign activity was illegal until 150 days before the 2027 polls.
Abdullahi stated that while APC was “hoisting billboards instead of fixing the nation’s broken economy,” inflation soared, the naira collapsed, petrol prices multiplied, and kidnapping morphed into an industry.
Lamenting the crisis of a government distracted from its duty to govern, ADC warned that every unlawful rally was a billboard of failure, and pledged to challenge the ruling party “when the window opens at the ballot box”.
According to Abdullahi, “For several months, APC organs have staged rallies and erected billboards endorsing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term. From the Abuja national caucus that proclaimed him ‘sole candidate,’ to choreographed declarations in Port Harcourt, Minna, Kano, and Akure.
“These theatrics brazenly ignore the Electoral Act and the fresh warning issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission, which reminds every politician that public campaigning is illegal until one hundred and fifty days before polling day.”
The statement said, “While the ruling party chants ‘four more years’ and sing songs of a sinking mandate, prices have galloped beyond the reach of ordinary citizens.
“The naira has crumbled from about N461 to the dollar in early 2023 to well over N1,500, wiping out savings and strangling small enterprises. Petrol that once sold for N185 per litre before subsidy removal now averages more than N1,000, turning every journey to work or market into an exercise in anguish.
“Debt is devouring the treasury. The World Bank projects that servicing our obligations already swallows more than our total federal revenue, leaving scarcely a kobo for schools, clinics, or roads. Revenue mobilisation limps along at barely eleven percent of our Goss Domestic Product, far below the continental average, yet the government borrows again and again and again.”
Abdullahi stated, “When it comes to insecurity, in communities across the nation, security has deteriorated into a national nightmare. Between April and June this year, 122 security personnel consisting of NSCDC, Police and Soldiers have been killed; 1865 civilians have been killed, and over 3132 security-related killings have been reported across the nation.
“Only last Friday, more than 50 people were seized in a major case of mass abduction in Sabon Gari Dirmi, north of Zamfara State.
“Nigerians are being abducted at an industrial scale while President Tinubu chases after adoption for second term. Instead of security personnel, our streets are lined with the President’s campaign billboards.
“In the power sector, the national grid collapsed a dozen times last year and several times this year, exposing the hollowness of President Tinubuand the APC’s promises of reliable power. Corruption indices still rank Nigeria in the bottom quarter of the world and press-freedom scores have fallen ten places in a single year, as independent journalists face mounting pressure.
“Under the APC, Nigerians are hungry, sick and scared, but instead of finding real solutions to these problems as they promised to do, the government has been busy building an army of digital propagandists and illusion creators.”
ADC demanded that APC should dismantle its unlawful campaign machinery, respect the law it swore to uphold, and focus on rescuing Nigerians from grinding inflation, a battered naira, rampant insecurity, and collapsing public services.
In another statement, Abdullahi described as fake a story circulating online that INEC had rejected the David Mark-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.
He stated, “The attention of ADC has been drawn to a story circulating that the @inecnigeria has refused to recognise the new leadership of our party under the Distinguished Senator David Mark. This story is entirely false and should be ignored.
“We urge Nigerian people to ignore such misleading reports from any quarters and stay focused on mobilising the long suffering people of Nigeria for the great task to save our dear country.”
Chuks Okocha
