The African Democratic Congress has strongly criticized the administration of President Bola Tinubu, accusing it of using the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari to rehabilitate its image.
In a statement issued by the party’s interim National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC alleged that the Tinubu-led government was engaging in political opportunism by leveraging national mourning for its own benefit.
The party specifically condemned the special session of the Federal Executive Council held in Buhari’s honour, calling it a symbolic move meant to curry public sympathy.
It also took issue with the visible appearance of the late president’s son, Yusuf Buhari, describing it as a calculated public relations move orchestrated by what it termed an “unpopular government.”
“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has called out President Tinubu’s government for what it describes as a cynical and opportunistic attempt to exploit the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari for political gains,” Abdullahi said.
He further argued that the current administration, along with the ruling All Progressives Congress, had consistently blamed Buhari for the nation’s economic difficulties since assuming power. Abdullahi questioned the sincerity of the government’s recent gestures, stating that it was ironic for them to now honour the late president in death after having openly criticized his policies and leadership during his lifetime.
“It is equally troubling that the young man, Mr. Yusuf Buhari, a private citizen and grieving son, was pulled into the political theatre of a Federal Executive Council meeting, just days after burying his father,” he noted.
The ADC urged Nigerians to remain vigilant, warning against what it described as attempts by the Tinubu administration to manipulate public sentiment through national grief. The party questioned the morality of using a family’s private loss for political messaging.
“Nigerians must ask, what kind of government uses the private pain of a bereaved family to varnish its own public image? Nigerians remember that since taking office, the Tinubu administration and its officials have launched a relentless campaign to disown their predecessor’s policies. They have blamed Buhari for everything, accused him of fiscal recklessness, and claimed to have inherited a broken economy—not from the opposition, but from their own party’s former leader. But now that it suits their political agenda, they seek to recast themselves as defenders of the late President’s legacy, pretending to give him in death, the honour they denied him while he was alive,” he added.
