ADC has slammed President Tinubu over use of Buhari’s death as PR tool.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has strongly condemned the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing it of exploiting the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari for political gain and image repair.
In a statement issued on Friday and made available to NewsOnline Nigeria, the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, described recent tributes and public displays of mourning as a “calculated public relations stunt” by an “unpopular government” desperate to regain lost goodwill, particularly in the North and among Buhari loyalists.
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The opposition party said it was hypocritical for a government that has consistently blamed Buhari for Nigeria’s economic and governance challenges to now turn around and attempt to embrace his legacy in death.
“The same Tinubu-led administration that spent over a year distancing itself from Buhari’s policies—on fuel subsidy, the economy, and public sector mismanagement—is now attempting to cloak itself in the memory of the very man it scapegoated,” Abdullahi stated.
ADC particularly criticised the Federal Executive Council (FEC) tribute session and the highly publicised appearance of Buhari’s son, Yusuf, at the meeting, calling it a “stage-managed act” designed to manipulate public sentiment.
The party warned that grief should never be used as a campaign tool, noting that Yusuf Buhari, a private citizen mourning his father, should never have been drawn into what it described as a political circus.
“Dragging a grieving son into a televised cabinet meeting just days after burying his father is both insensitive and exploitative,” the statement read.
According to ADC, Nigerians are well aware of the Tinubu administration’s earlier rhetoric, which relentlessly blamed Buhari for the country’s woes and painted his leadership as the root of Nigeria’s current economic hardship. The opposition insists that the recent shift in tone is not about honouring the late president, but a bid to rewrite history and shield the current administration from growing public discontent.
The statement concluded with a warning that Nigerians are not deceived by what it called “a grand performance.”
“No amount of public relations manoeuvring can erase the failures of the last two years. Nigerians know the truth, and no choreographed display of grief can change that,” ADC asserted.
