Our Reporter, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s latest wave of political appointments, describing them as a “desperate and cynical” attempt to regain lost support in Northern Nigeria.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, accused the president of engaging in “political panic management” after more than two years of what he termed “neglect, arrogance, and unprecedented nepotism.”
“You cannot marginalize 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,” Abdullahi said, in a clear swipe at the president’s perceived Lagos-centric style of governance.
The party argued that recent appointments targeting the North are mere “consolation prizes” intended to quell mounting discontent in the region, particularly amid rising insecurity, economic decline, and the visible momentum of a reinvigorated opposition movement.
“For over a year, this government turned a blind eye as bandits terrorized villages in the North, as farmers abandoned their land, and as rural economies crumbled,” the statement read.
“Now, sensing the shifting political winds, the administration wants to douse the fire it helped ignite.”
The ADC also criticized what it called a consistent exclusion of northern voices in key decision-making processes, including the controversial removal of fuel subsidies and top-level political appointments.
“Every major decision of this administration has been taken without the North at the table,” Abdullahi said. “Northerners, as co-owners of our great federal republic, see through President Tinubu’s actions and recognize that tokenism is not inclusion, and symbolism is not governance.”
The party urged the president to abandon what it described as “Bourdillon-style appeasement politics”—a reference to the president’s political base in Lagos—and instead pursue true national inclusion anchored on consultation, equitable policies, and adherence to federal character principles.
“You cannot patch a broken roof with press releases and photo-ops,” Abdullahi declared.
“And you certainly cannot restore the trust you have lost with the public by pretending that titles are a substitute for genuine commitment to nation-building,” Abdullahi insisted.
