The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised the composition of President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 presidential campaign council, describing it as a “rehabilitation centre” for individuals facing unresolved corruption allegations.
The opposition party specifically questioned the inclusion of former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, and former Chairman of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Ngozi Olejeme, in the campaign structure.
The ADC said their appointments, among those of other members, raised questions about the government’s commitment to accountability and the status of corruption investigations involving the two former officials.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, made the comments in a statement on Saturday, following the unveiling of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 election.
Under the announced structure, President Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima will serve as Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively, while APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda will serve as Vice-Chairman II.
Former Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari was appointed Director-General, while Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma will serve as Secretary.
Other prominent members of the council include Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila and former presidential campaign operative James Faleke.
Edu was appointed Director of Women Mobilisation, while Olejeme was named Zonal Director for Election Planning, Coordination and Mobilisation for the South-South.
ADC questions status of corruption cases
Reacting to the appointments, Abdullahi said the campaign council, which should ordinarily serve as a political structure for Tinubu’s re-election bid, had instead become a platform for individuals facing unresolved questions over corruption and public accountability.
“We have taken note of the composition of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 campaign council. What should ordinarily be a political task team ends up looking like a rehabilitation system for individuals carrying unresolved questions of corruption and public accountability,” he said.
The ADC drew particular attention to Edu, who was suspended by Tinubu in January 2024 following controversy surrounding an alleged request to transfer N585 million to a private account.
Edu denied wrongdoing, while the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) subsequently investigated the matter.
Abdullahi also questioned the inclusion of Olejeme, who has faced EFCC prosecution over alleged financial offences linked to her tenure at the NSITF.
The ADC spokesperson said the appointments should compel the government to clarify the current status of the cases involving the two former officials.
“One important question that the inclusion of these individuals provokes is what happened to the cases involving these individuals. If they have been cleared, the government should show how and when and by whom they were cleared,” he said.
He accused the Tinubu administration of establishing a pattern where investigations into alleged financial crimes allegedly fade away before those involved resurface in political or public positions.
The ADC warned that such developments could weaken public confidence in the government’s anti-corruption efforts.
“It has become a familiar pattern under this administration for investigations into financial crimes to quietly disappear only for the accused to suddenly reappear in a different official role,” Abdullahi said.
ADC: ‘2027 will be referendum on Tinubu’
The opposition party said the controversy surrounding the campaign council would not determine the outcome of the 2027 election, arguing that the election would ultimately serve as an assessment of Tinubu’s performance in office.
The ADC said the President could assemble his political allies and campaigners, but argued that the campaign structure could not shield the administration from public dissatisfaction over economic hardship.
“For emphasis, the 2027 election will be a referendum on President Tinubu’s record,” the statement said.
“The President may assemble his old friends and political allies, including those carrying unresolved corruption questions, but all of their collective brooms cannot sweep away the grave pains they have brought on the Nigerian people.”
The opposition party accused the administration of failing to adequately tackle rising living costs and poverty while alleged privileges continued to benefit individuals close to the government.
It said Nigerians had repeatedly been asked to make sacrifices since the beginning of the administration’s economic reforms.
“For three years, they have told Nigerians who can barely afford food to tighten their belts, while those connected to the government continue to live in obscene opulence, feeding fat on the common wealth. The time for reckoning has come,” Abdullahi said.
The ADC’s criticism comes as political parties intensify preparations for the 2027 presidential election, with Tinubu seeking a second term and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the ADC presidential candidate, emerging as one of his major challengers.
The party has positioned itself as a platform for a wider opposition coalition seeking to defeat the APC in 2027. Its presidential ticket comprises Atiku as candidate and former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as his running mate.
ADC defends Atiku’s subsidy proposal
Abdullahi also defended Atiku’s proposal to restore a form of petrol subsidy if elected President in 2027.
Atiku recently said in an interview that he would restore the subsidy and ensure that individuals who diverted public funds meant for the scheme returned the money.
The proposal drew criticism from the Presidency and the APC.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, described Atiku’s position as a “volte-face” and accused him of being desperate for power.
Onanuga argued that the subsidy regime had become financially unsustainable and noted that the Petroleum Industry Act provided for its termination by the end of June 2023, although the Tinubu administration brought the implementation forward.
The APC also criticised the proposal, accusing Atiku of abandoning his earlier position in support of subsidy removal. The party described his new stance as evidence that he was “clueless and out of touch with Nigeria’s economic realities.”
Abdullahi, however, said the criticisms from the government and the APC failed to address the hardship being experienced by Nigerians.
He said the ADC was not proposing a return to the previous subsidy system, but rather a “targeted, capped, budgeted and independently audited subsidy intervention” designed to reduce fuel production costs and, ultimately, the price paid by consumers.
“We reinstate our commitment to subsidise production of fuel as a way of bringing down the pump price of fuel and the general cost of living in the country,” he said.
The ADC argued that the government’s claim that Nigeria could not afford such an intervention was difficult to reconcile with what it described as wasteful public spending.
“What we understand the APC government to be saying is that Nigeria cannot afford to protect struggling families,” Abdullahi said.
“They are saying that a government that has continued to engage in monumental waste of resources cannot afford to help poor Nigerians who are merely struggling to survive.”
ADC: ‘Every naira must be traceable’
The ADC said its proposed intervention would differ from the subsidy arrangement that existed before its removal in 2023.
Abdullahi said the party would support measures to ensure that public funds allocated to the intervention could be tracked and independently audited.
“Our proposal is straightforward: every naira must be traceable and every barrel accounted for,” he said.
He also challenged Tinubu to account for what he described as the cost of the administration’s economic policies, arguing that the government should not reject support for struggling Nigerians on the basis of cost without accounting for its own public expenditure.
“Before President Tinubu lectures Nigerians about the cost of helping them, he should account for the cost of his own government’s wrong-headed policy that has turned state governors into wastrels and federal agents into profligates,” the statement said.