The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has sharply criticised President Bola Tinubu’s recent push for food security, calling it a politically motivated reaction rather than a genuine policy shift.
In a statement released on Sunday, ADC spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi accused the Tinubu administration of only acting due to political pressure, rather than concern for the hardship faced by Nigerians.
“This is not reform. This is not leadership. This is a scramble for survival by an administration that has been cornered by its own failures,” Abdullahi said.
The statement was a response to remarks made by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, who had announced on Saturday that the government would remove all obstacles to realising Nigeria’s agricultural potential, including livestock development, in a bid to achieve food self-sufficiency and expand exports.
But the ADC dismissed the declaration as too little, too late, and politically convenient.
“When Bayo Onanuga tweeted that all bottlenecks hindering the administration’s potential would be removed, he didn’t just issue a statement—he admitted that the government sat back while Nigerians went hungry,” Abdullahi noted.
He described the presidency’s position as a “confession of failure,” claiming that the administration only sprang into action following last week’s announcement by opposition politicians that they had adopted the ADC as the platform for a coalition ahead of the 2027 elections.
According to the ADC, Tinubu’s government was not responding to citizens’ suffering, but to the threat of losing political ground.
“A confession that this government had, by design, been sitting on its hands while Nigerians starved,” the statement added.
The party insists that meaningful reform requires foresight and proactive leadership, not reactionary moves under pressure.
