The African Democratic Congress (ADC)
said the decision of President Bola Tinubu to distribute branded vehicles to campaign agents across the country showed that he is more concerned with his re-election in 2027 than the rescue of over 250 Niger State schoolchildren who are still in captivity.
ADC in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, also accused the president of violating the Electoral Act by flagging off his re-election campaign under the guise of “Renewed Hope Ambassadors”.
According to the party, Tinubu’s declaration of state of emergency on security was a mere gimmick to grab newspaper headlines, because his re-election remains his priority.
“While ordinary citizens are being kidnapped, displaced, and killed, the president is handing out branded vehicles and building a partisan mobilisation structure.
“Entire communities are living under siege, our armed forces are stretched thin, yet the ruling party is preparing for rallies.
“At a time when children are being kidnapped and countless communities are under attack, the president is focused on re-election, seeking to continue presiding over a nation that has become more diminished, more fractured, and more dangerous than he met it,” ADC regretted.
It stated that a nation under emergency rule is expected to adopt extraordinary conduct and behaviours that reflect the desperate nature of its condition, while the leadership would demonstrate that nothing else matters than tackling the situation that necessitated it.
ADC however noted that under President Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration, apart from the declaration itself, nothing of substance has changed.
The party stated that the emergency declaration means nothing to President Tinubu more than his “Renewed Hope Ambassadors” project “and the obscene distribution of campaign vehicles at a time when an undetermined number of children are still in captivity and the entire nation cowers in fear.”
ADC noted Tinubu is the first elected Nigerian president to declare a nationwide emergency on security, but he is also the first president to launch his re-election campaign while the country is under emergency rule.
“This is not merely misplaced priority. It is an indication that the only thing that truly matters to this government and this president is politics,” the party stated.
It called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to protect the integrity of the nation’s electoral process, because Tinubu’s distribution of campaign vehicles is a violation of the Electoral Act.
The party called on President Tinubu to make a choice, as “he cannot govern under emergency powers while operating as a candidate on the campaign trail.
“One path leads to public service, the other to political opportunism.
“Leadership in times of crisis demands focus, sacrifice, and moral clarity.
“Lavish convoys and early campaigns are not the answers to national trauma.
“The president must return to the business of governance or step aside and admit that his political ambition now stands in the way of Nigeria’s recovery.”
