The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has faulted the presidency for suggesting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu could remain in office until 2031, describing the statement as “presumptuous and undemocratic.”
The party’s response followed remarks by presidential aide Bayo Onanuga, who dismissed allegations by former Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai that Tinubu was plotting to cling to power like Cameroon’s Paul Biya. Biya, 92, has ruled since 1982 and is seeking re-election.
Onanuga had rejected el-Rufai’s claims as “baseless and absurd,” insisting that Tinubu “is a democrat who does not intend to stay in office beyond May 28, 2031, when re-elected in 2027.”
But ADC spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi said the presidency’s statement only confirmed Nigerians’ worst fears.
“That the president is already speaking of remaining in office till 2031 betrays a mindset that dismisses re-election as a mere formality,” Abdullahi said in a statement on Tuesday.
He argued that Tinubu has not earned a second term, accusing him of dividing the nation, worsening poverty, and presiding over insecurity that has turned rural communities into “warzones.”
“Citizens are kidnapped in broad daylight, national security has degenerated into a cruel joke, and the government has neither the will nor the capacity to stop it,” Abdullahi said.
On the economy, he claimed the naira has “collapsed,” inflation is “out of control,” and jobs are disappearing, leaving Nigerians “poorer, hungrier, and angrier” than before Tinubu took office.
The ADC also accused the government of suppressing dissent, mismanaging public finances through secrecy, budget padding, and “inexplicable loans,” while leaving the power sector “comatose despite billions spent.”
“Given this comprehensive failure, it is not only insensitive but downright dangerous for anyone in the Tinubu presidency to speak so glibly of a second term,” Abdullahi said. “The president should not be plotting to stay. He should be preparing to leave. He has done enough damage.”
He further warned against Tinubu’s alleged political style of handpicking leaders, declaring: “But Nigeria is not Lagos. Nigerians are watching, and come 2027, it won’t be APC versus ADC; it will be APC versus the Nigerian people.”
