The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said given the spate of banditry, killings, widespread hunger and suffering in the country, Nigerians have no plan to extend President Bola Tinubu’s tenure in 2027, even by single day.
ADC in a statement by the interim National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, advised President Tinubu to start preparing his handover note in 2027, as he won’t stay in office beyond that date.
The party, which was reacting to the statement by the presidency, that Tinubu has no plans to extend his tenure beyond 2031, described such remarks as presumptuous and patently undemocratic.
“This administration is not only out of touch with reality, it has also become dangerously self-satisfied,” ADC said.
It noted that the presidency was already
speaking of remaining in office till 2031, which it stated betrays a mindset that dismisses re-election as mere formalities.
ADC told Tinubu that his re-election is not automatic, but has to be earned, noting that in two short years, he has shown Nigeria what he is capable of doing.
“He has divided the country like no other president before him and sent majority of Nigerians deeper into poverty.
“More innocent lives have been lost under him, and bandits have effectively taken control of a large swathes of our Northern territory.
“While the president taxes people and businesses to death from Abuja, bandits exert their own taxes in various states of the North,” the party stated.
It noted that under Tinubu’s watch, national security has degenerated into a cruel joke, while terrorists, bandits, and criminals now operate with total impunity.
“Citizens are kidnapped in broad daylight (and) rural communities have become war zones.
“Insecurity has metastasized into national trauma, and the government has neither the will nor the capacity to stop it,” ADC said.
The party also decried the state of the economy, noting that while the national currency, the naira has collapsed, inflation has gone out of control.
“Food prices have tripled in many parts of the country. Jobs are vanishing. The middle class is disappearing. Businesses that once thrived are collapsing under the weight of punitive taxes and policy inconsistencies. Nigerians are now poorer, hungrier, and angrier than they were before Tinubu took office,” the party stated.
According to the ADC, the situation was further compounded by comatose power sector, with frequent collapse of the national grid despite billions of naira spent on the sector.
The party said Nigeria’s Human Development Index has continued to slide, because of poor funding of the education sector and collapse of the healthcare facilities.
“The youth—Nigeria’s greatest asset—are increasingly hopeless, jobless, and restless (while) government intervention remains cosmetic,” it said.
ADC stated that given the total failure of the APC government in all sectors, “it is not only insensitive but downright dangerous for anyone in the Tinubu presidency to speak glibly of a second term.
“The president should not be plotting to stay,” it said, but should be preparing to leave.
