Following President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s recent promise to remove barriers to food security and increase exports, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has charged that the government is doing more out of fear than real care for Nigerians.
The ADC called the reform announcements a “race for survival” spurred by the ADC’s and other opposition groups’ increasing popularity, according to a statement posted on social media and issued on Sunday by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s interim national publicity secretary.
The ADC was reacting to a statement by Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, who recently announced that the federal government would take steps to eliminate bottlenecks blocking food security and exports.
The ADC questioned the timing of the announcement, suggesting it was politically motivated.
When Bayo Onanuga announced on Saturday that all obstacles to “the realization of the Tinubu administration’s potential” will be eliminated going forward in order to facilitate food sovereignty and export, he was not merely making a statement; he was also making a confession.
According to the statement, the Tinubu administration consciously decided to do nothing when there was widespread famine in Nigeria.
It argued that the government is now making a late move under political pressure and should not be praised for taking minimal action.
The ADC claims that this is a last-ditch effort to survive after being overtaken by its own failures rather than true reform or leadership.
“Let us make one thing clear, it took the emergence of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the growing momentum of a united opposition to push this government into action. It wasn’t the hunger of hundreds of millions of Nigerians that moved them, it was fear. Fear of the 2027 elections. Fear that Nigerians have woken up. Fear that, with a united opposition, 2027 will be a clearcut election between the APC and the Nigerian people,” the statement said.
The ruling APC was charged by the ADC with purposefully exploiting poverty as a political tactic.
Nigerians should begin challenging the government, the ADC stated.
