The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s decision to appoint son of General Ibrahim Babangida, popularly called IBB, to lead the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and others recently, saying the move will not assist the country’s leadership to regain trust of Northern Nigerians after years of neglect by the administration.
The new opposition party said the move by the Tinubu-led administration was an indication of the fear by the president that the North will vote against him during 2027 presidential election.
Describing the strategy as a political panic management,” and not the one embarked upon to ensure national inclusion.
In a statement issued yesterday and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said: “You cannot marginalise a region for over twenty-five months and expect applause because you suddenly remembered on the twenty-sixth month that Nigeria is bigger than Lagos State,”.
The ADC accused the administration of calculated neglect, saying the North had been systematically sidelined from critical decision-making since the inception of the Tinubu presidency.
“For over a year, this government turned a blind eye as bandits terrorised villages in the North, as our farmers abandoned their land, and as rural economies crumbled under the weight of poorly thought-out fuel subsidy removal.
“Now, under the rising heat of public discontent, and with the emergence of a formidable opposition coalition gaining traction in the North and across the country, President Tinubu suddenly remembers that there are Nigerians to appoint into positions outside his Lagos,” Abdullahi stated.
The ADC argued that every major policy and appointment under the current administration had occurred with minimal Northern representation, stressing that recent gestures were nothing more than “consolation prizes.”
“But Northerners, as co-owners of our great federal republic, know better than to be deceived by these token appointments. They see through President Tinubu’s actions — and can sense that this is not genuine. Tokenism is not inclusion, and symbolism is not governance,” the ADC national publicity secretary said.
The party also called on the President to abandon what it termed “Bourdillon-style appeasement politics,” and instead pursue genuine national unity through broad-based consultation, policy fairness, and adherence to the principles of federal character.
“You cannot patch a broken roof with press releases and photo-ops. And you certainly cannot restore the trust that you have lost with the public by pretending that titles are a substitute for genuine commitment to nation-building,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has responded to comments made by the ADC concerning the state burial of former President Muhammadu Buhari, describing the opposition party’s remarks as “insensitive and unacceptable.”
In a statement shared on X by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, and signed by the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, the ruling party accused the ADC of politicising a period of national mourning for political gain.
“The party’s criticism of the dignified state burial accorded to the late President is as spooky as it is unconscionable. Again, the ADC has showcased itself to be without any understanding of customary state practice and lacking empathy and essential humanity,” Morka said.
The APC said the ADC’s statement, which reportedly suggested the Tinubu administration was exploiting the death of the former president for political gains, reflected the party’s “duplicity and insensitivity.”
“What would the ADC have had President Tinubu do? Deny the late President Buhari the honour of a befitting state burial? Withhold empathy and support for the bereaved former first family?” Morka queried.
He further accused the ADC of allowing its desperation for power to “corrode its humanity,” describing the opposition as “a party of mindless political dregs” and “a dump of Nigeria’s internally displaced politicians.”
The APC noted that President Tinubu had demonstrated compassion and patriotism by leading the nation in honouring his predecessor.
“Nigerians must remain wary of the ADC and its band of political marauders prowling for power with nothing to offer except peddling falsehood and vilifying a President who is hard at work for the transformation and progress of our nation,” Morka added.
