The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s latest appointments, calling them a “desperate attempt to buy back the trust that he has spent over a year squandering, particularly in Northern Nigeria.”
In a statement issued by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC dismissed the new appointments as insincere and ineffective, arguing they come far too late to make a meaningful impact.
“You cannot marginalise a region for over twenty-five months and expect applause because you suddenly remembered on the twenty-sixth month that Nigeria is bigger than Lagos State,” Abdullahi stated.
Describing the move as “political panic management,” the ADC alleged that the appointments were aimed at covering up the deep dissatisfaction caused by “over a year of calculated neglect, presidential arrogance and unprecedented nepotism.”
The party pointed to the worsening insecurity in Northern Nigeria and the economic fallout from the removal of fuel subsidies as signs of Tinubu’s failure to govern inclusively.
“For over a year, this government turned a blind eye as bandits terrorised villages in the north, as our farmers abandoned their land, and as rural economies crumbled under the weight of poorly thought-out fuel subsidy removal,” Abdullahi said.
With rising public discontent and opposition momentum building, the ADC claims the Tinubu-led government is now scrambling to rebuild bridges it spent the past year burning.
“Now, under the rising heat of public discontent, and with the emergence of a formidable opposition coalition gaining traction in the North and across the country, President Tinubu suddenly remembers that there are Nigerians to appoint into positions outside his Lagos,” the party said.
“Every major decision of this administration, from subsidy removal to a majority of the political appointments, have been taken without the North at the table. Now that the consequences of those decisions have become glaring, the President is doling out appointments as consolation prizes.”
Abdullahi emphasized that Northerners are not fooled by what the ADC sees as shallow attempts at appeasement.
“But Northerners as co-owners of our great federal republic know better than to be deceived by these token appointments. They see through President Tinubu’s actions — and can sense that this is not genuine. Tokenism is not inclusion, and symbolism is not governance,” he declared.
Calling for a shift from “Bourdillon-style appeasement politics,” the ADC urged the administration to pursue genuine national inclusion built on fairness and dialogue.
“You cannot patch a broken roof with press releases and photo-ops. And you certainly cannot restore the trust that you have lost with the public by pretending that titles are a substitute for genuine commitment to nation-building.”
