ADC asks Tinubu to quit 2027 race over campaign shake-up

The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) has urged President Bola Tinubu to withdraw from the 2027 presidential election, accusing his administration of trying to suppress allegations of corruption rather than address them.

The opposition party made the call while reacting to the dissolution of the spokespersons of Tinubu’s re-election campaign, which it described as an attempt to silence those exposing alleged failures within the ruling All Progressives Congress.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by its Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Okogbodiyan, the ADC campaign council linked the decision to recent comments by Hassan Alwan, a former spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.

Alwan had reportedly alleged that ministers in Tinubu’s administration paid to secure their appointments and were expected to recover their investments while in office.

The ADC said the APC’s response to the disclosure raised questions about its commitment to transparency and accountability.

“You cannot sack spokespersons for telling Nigerians the truth about a government that has failed on virtually every front,” the council said.

It added that Alwan had only brought to public attention what Nigerians had long suspected, alleging that public office under the Tinubu administration had become a means of recovering political investments.

The opposition group accused the APC of targeting the messengers instead of providing answers to the allegations of monetised appointments.

“Instead of providing convincing answers to the grave allegations of appointment racketeering, the APC has chosen to shoot the messenger,” it said.

The ADC also argued that changing the campaign's communication team would not address the economic and security challenges facing the country.

It listed hunger, unemployment, insecurity and declining public confidence among the problems it said had worsened under the Tinubu administration.

“No new spokesperson, no fresh propaganda strategy and no campaign jamboree can whitewash the failures of this administration,” the statement added.

The council further criticised Tinubu’s re-election campaign, accusing it of repackaging promises from the 2023 election manifesto without providing a convincing new direction for the country.

It urged the President to withdraw from the 2027 contest, arguing that Nigeria could not afford another four years of what it described as failed leadership.

“Nigeria cannot afford another term of monetised appointments, failed reforms, economic hardship and deceitful propaganda,” the ADC said.

The party expressed confidence that Nigerians would use the 2027 general election to vote for what it called competence, integrity and purposeful leadership.