ADC Slams Tinubu For Exploiting Buhari’s Death In Political Stunt.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has sharply criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration, accusing it of exploiting the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari for political gain. In a scathing statement issued on Friday, 18 July 2025, by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the opposition party described the government’s tributes to Buhari as a “cynical and opportunistic” attempt to bolster its faltering public image, particularly in northern Nigeria.
The controversy centres on a special Federal Executive Council (FEC) session held on Thursday, 17 July 2025, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where President Tinubu paid tribute to Buhari, who passed away on Sunday, 13 July 2025, in a London hospital at the age of 82. Tinubu hailed his predecessor as “a good, decent, and honourable man” whose values of discipline, patriotism, and integrity would endure. The event, attended by National Assembly leaders, governors, cabinet members, and Buhari’s son, Yusuf, was presented as a mark of respect for the late president. However, the ADC condemned the session as a “carefully stage-managed” public relations stunt designed to distract Nigerians from the administration’s mounting challenges.
Abdullahi’s statement highlighted what the ADC perceives as hypocrisy, noting that Tinubu’s government had spent over a year blaming Buhari for Nigeria’s economic woes, including soaring inflation, fuel subsidy removal, and public sector mismanagement. “For months, the official stance of the Tinubu Presidency was that Nigeria’s hardship was Buhari’s fault. The message was clear: Buhari was the problem, Tinubu was the solution,” the statement read. “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.”
The ADC expressed particular outrage over the inclusion of Yusuf Buhari, described as a private citizen mourning his father, in the FEC session. “It is unconscionable that a grieving son was pulled into the political theatre of a Federal Executive Council meeting, just days after burying his father,” Abdullahi said. “Nigerians must ask: what kind of government uses the private pain of a bereaved family to varnish its own public image?” The party argued that the publicised appearance of Yusuf was a calculated move to garner sympathy and curry favour among Buhari’s loyalists, particularly in the North, where the late president maintained significant influence.
The opposition coalition further accused Tinubu’s administration of attempting to rewrite history by embracing Buhari’s legacy after consistently distancing itself from his policies. The ADC pointed to the government’s previous criticisms of Buhari’s handling of fuel subsidies, currency redesign, and economic management as evidence of its duplicity. “You cannot spend months discrediting a man’s legacy only to turn around and perform grief for the cameras,” Abdullahi stated, branding the FEC tribute as “hypocritical and in bad taste.” The party urged Nigerians to see through what it called a “grand deceit” aimed at whitewashing the administration’s failures amid rising inflation, insecurity, and public discontent.
In response, the All Progressives Congress (APC) dismissed the ADC’s allegations as disrespectful and inappropriate during a period of national mourning. The ruling party defended the FEC tribute as a genuine gesture to honour Buhari’s contributions to Nigeria, including his leadership during turbulent times. However, the ADC maintained that the government’s actions were politically motivated, with one source within the party claiming that the administration was “rattled” by the growing strength of the opposition coalition, which includes prominent figures like Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, unveiled on 2 July 2025 to challenge Tinubu in the 2027 elections.
The ADC’s statement concluded with a call for Nigerians to remain vigilant against what it described as “emotional manipulation tactics” by the Tinubu administration. “Grief is not a campaign strategy,” Abdullahi asserted, urging the late president’s family to be left alone to mourn in peace. As political tensions rise ahead of the 2027 polls, the clash between the ADC and the APC underscores the deepening divide between Nigeria’s ruling party and the opposition, with Buhari’s legacy now a contentious battleground in the nation’s political discourse.