The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council has challenged Vice President Kashim Shettima’s claim that President Bola Tinubu rescued Nigeria from the threat of economic collapse, arguing that the All Progressives Congress must accept responsibility for conditions inherited from the previous administration.
The opposition campaign council said any suggestion that Nigeria was approaching a severe economic crisis before Tinubu assumed office inevitably raises questions about the performance of former President Muhammadu Buhari, who governed for eight years on the APC platform.
Director of Media and Publicity of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the ruling party could not separate itself from the economic record of the Buhari government while simultaneously asking Nigerians to renew its mandate in 2027.
The ADC spokesman was responding to comments attributed to Shettima suggesting that Nigeria was moving towards conditions comparable to Caracas before the Tinubu administration introduced its reforms.
Ologbondiyan argued that if the economic situation had deteriorated to that extent before May 2023, responsibility could not be detached from the political party that controlled the Federal Government during the preceding eight years.
He also recalled that Tinubu supported the Buhari administration and campaigned on the promise of building on its achievements.
The ADC therefore described attempts to contrast the two administrations as politically contradictory.
Moving beyond the argument over Buhari’s legacy, the opposition campaign organization said Nigerians were more concerned about their present economic circumstances.
It cited food affordability, electricity, road conditions, unemployment, insecurity and the general cost of living as issues likely to influence political decisions ahead of 2027.
The council also questioned new promises from the administration concerning transportation.
It specifically referred to plans announced by the Vice President involving 10,600 electric tricycles, 300 buses and electric taxis, arguing that Nigerians should assess such commitments against previous government promises and actual delivery.
The ADC maintained that voters would ultimately judge the ruling party on the economic conditions experienced by households rather than political explanations for how those conditions emerged.
As campaigning intensifies, the dispute is likely to become part of a wider political battle over responsibility for Nigeria’s economic trajectory since the APC first assumed federal power in 2015.
For the ADC, the central argument is that the ruling party cannot campaign on continuity while simultaneously distancing itself from the record of an earlier APC administration.
