ADC: Defeating Tinubu in 2027 Only Way to Save Nigeria

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The African Democratic Party (ADC) has said the only way Nigeria can overcome its current challenges is to remove President Bola Tinubu in 2027.It described its objective to remove the president from power as a necessary step towards rescuing Nigeria from an unprecedented governance crisis.ADC’s spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, who disclosed this during a television interview at the weekend, insisted that Nigeria has been hijacked.

Abdullahi accused state governors of failing to improve Nigerians’ livelihoods despite receiving larger allocations from the federal government.He added that the President Tinubu-led government did not care whether Nigerians were still dying or that people were still being killed; all it was interested in was holding on to power. “It’s solely to get Tinubu out of power. That is the agenda, not about Nigeria’s interests.“There is no scenario where he remains in power, and we can save this country. When people say you can smash it, grab it, and run with it, that is the language of banditry”.

He indicated that such attitudes reflected the mindset of President Tinubu’s administration.Abdullahi, a former minister, also raised concerns about allegations of legislative manipulation, particularly regarding tax laws, describing recent events as unprecedented in Nigeria’s democratic history.The ADC spokesman accused the government of forging a law that had already been duly passed by the National Assembly, questioning the implications of such an act.

“A government that can forge a duly passed law; what do you call that?” he asked.Speaking on the federal government’s reported payment of $9 million to foreign lobbyists in the United States, allegedly to improve Nigeria’s image before American political leaders, including President Donald Trump, Abdullahi said he had reviewed documents and found no transparency model or legal basis for the process.“Is it a bad thing to lobby? No, it’s not a bad thing. But what they are doing, number one, I don’t even want to go into all the processes.

“How was this contract awarded? How was the money paid? Who paid the money? What budget line was it taken from? How was the money transferred out of Nigeria? he asked.He argued that the expenditure revealed misplaced priorities.“If you invest nine million dollars in internal security, you will see results. You won’t have to convince the president of another country that your country is safe,” he added.“Instead, he accused the government of caring more about appearances before foreign audiences than about the daily insecurity faced by Nigerians.”

“They don’t care whether Nigerians are still dying. They don’t care that people are still being killed. They want to look good before Americans,” Abdullahi said.The ADC spokesperson also expressed alarm over a recently signed medical memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Nigeria and the United States.According to him, the agreement, reportedly signed around December 19, grants the US significant control over how funds are spent, including determining the regions that would benefit, despite Nigeria contributing more financially.

“No Nigerians have seen the details of this MOU,” he said, describing the terms as “shocking” while raising questions about sovereignty and accountability.Abdullahi accused state governors of failing to improve Nigerians’ livelihoods despite receiving larger allocations from the federal government.He noted that with the removal of fuel subsidy, Nigerian governors have more money in their coffers but have not done much with it.

“The governors, by their own, by the president’s own declaration, he has given more money to the governors than maybe any president has ever given to governors in our history. And how has that reflected in the improved livelihood of the people in the states?” the ADC spokesman asked.“I’m not saying all of them are bad, but what I’m saying is that they have received more money than any other generation of governors have received in the history of this country,” the former minister said on the current affairs show.“You can say devaluation. The reason we have more money going to the states is that they removed subsidies, and that money is now going to them. In what way has that reflected a better life for the people in the states?” he queried.