The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has sharply criticized the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for initiating what it describes as premature and unlawful re-election campaigns for President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
In a statement released on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, condemned the APC for staging rallies and erecting campaign billboards endorsing Tinubu in cities like Abuja, Kano, Akure, Minna, and Port Harcourt, actions he claims violate the Electoral Act.
Abdullahi argued that these “choreographed endorsements” flout the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) regulation, which prohibits public campaigning until 150 days before the 2027 polls.
He accused the APC of prioritizing political theatrics over addressing Nigeria’s pressing challenges, including soaring inflation, a collapsing naira, skyrocketing petrol prices, and rampant insecurity.
“While the ruling party chants ‘four more years,’ prices have galloped beyond the reach of ordinary citizens,” Abdullahi stated, noting that headline inflation hit a 30-year high of nearly 35% in December 2024 and remains above 22%.
The ADC highlighted the worsening state of the nation under APC governance, pointing to frequent power grid collapses, with over a dozen incidents in 2024 and several in 2025, and a decline in press freedom, with Nigeria dropping ten places in global rankings.
Abdullahi also referenced the “industrial scale” of kidnappings, including a recent mass abduction of over 50 people in Sabon Gari Dirmi, Zamfara State, as evidence of a government distracted from its duties.
“Instead of security personnel, our streets are lined with the President’s campaign billboards,” he remarked.
The opposition party demanded that the APC dismantle its “unlawful campaign machinery” and focus on addressing economic hardship, insecurity, and collapsing public services.
“Every political billboard is a billboard of illegality and should be removed,” Abdullahi asserted, pledging that the ADC would challenge the APC at the ballot box when the campaign window officially opens.
The ADC’s criticism comes amid its efforts to build a formidable coalition to challenge the APC in 2027.
The party, now led by interim chairman Mark and interim secretary Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has attracted defectors from the APC, PDP, and Labour Party, including prominent figures like former PDP governorship candidates Eyitayo Jegede and Agboola Ajayi in Ondo State.
The coalition, backed by opposition leaders like Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and Rabiu Kwankwaso, aims to replicate the APC’s 2015 success in ousting a ruling party. However, internal challenges, including disputes over leadership and candidate selection, pose risks to its unity.
Meanwhile, the APC remains confident, with party leaders claiming Tinubu will secure at least 15 million votes in 2027, dismissing the opposition coalition as no threat.
The presidency, through Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga, has also downplayed the ADC’s efforts, predicting the coalition will collapse within six months due to competing ambitions among its leaders.
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