The African Democratic Congress (ADC), has cautioned the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration to stop what it described as the “desperation in exploiting the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari to whitewash its battered image.
The ADC specifically accused the Tinubu-led government of cynical and opportunistic attempt to exploit the death of Buhari for political gains.
It however, expressed confidence that Nigerians can see through their grand deceit, stressing that no public relations stunt can save a government that has behaved in the last two years like an army of occupation.
The coalition ADC, in a statement by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary of the Party, pointedly castigated what it also described as the “choreographed Federal Executive Council (FEC) tribute” and the publicised appearance of Buhari’s grieving son, Yusuf, which it noted was a calculated PR stunt by an unpopular government.
The ADC noted that the Tinubu administration which spent more than a year blaming Buhari for the country’s economic troubles, suddenly made a detour to now perform public grief in a bid to whitewash its battered image, especially in the North and among Buhari loyalists.
Abdullahi said; “This is hypocritical and in bad taste. You cannot spend months discrediting a man’s legacy only to turn around and perform grief for the cameras.
“The same government that previously distanced itself from Buhari’s policies, especially on fuel subsidy, the economy, and public sector management, is now struggling to cloak itself in the very legacy it once denounced.
“The grief is not and cannot be a campaign strategy. The late President’s family should be left alone to mourn their father in peace rather than being dragged into political circus show.
“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) condemns the Tinubu administration’s sudden and cynical attempt to wrap itself in the memory of the late President Muhammadu Buhari—a man this same government spent over a year blaming, sidelining, and scapegoating for every major challenge confronting the nation.
“The choreographed Federal Executive Council (FEC) tribute, complete with a publicised appearance by our late President’s grieving son, was not a demonstration of genuine respect. It was a calculated public relations stunt by an unpopular government, carefully stage-managed to distract Nigerians from the administration’s deepening failures and to rewrite history while the nation mourns.
“It is equally troubling that the young man, Mr. Yusuf Buhari, a private citizen and grieving son, was pulled into the political theatre of a Federal Executive Council meeting, just days after burying his father. Nigerians must ask, what kind of government uses the private pain of a bereaved family to varnish its own public image?
“Nigerians remember that since taking office, the Tinubu administration and its officials have launched a relentless campaign to disown their predecessor’s policies. They have blamed Buhari for everything, accused him of fiscal recklessness, and claimed to have inherited a broken economy—not from the opposition, but from their own party’s former leader.
“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. 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,” Abdullahi said.
He also said that earlier in the week, the ADC warned the family of the late President of the plan by government to make political gains from their father’s death, saying that what was witnessed at the Federal Executive Council on Thursday, was only a part of the larger plan that had only started to unfold.
In the words of the ADC; “The unfolding stage-managed displays of grief and the exploitation of a mourning son who was compelled to perform gratitude in front of the cameras is unconscionable and must be condemned by all decent people”.
