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By Myke Uzendu
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of breaching the Electoral Act with the subtle endorsement of President Bola Tinubu for re-election and premature hoisting of campaign billboards ahead of the 2027 general election.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, ADC spokesperson, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi said the choreographed endorsements and the President’s campaign billboards lining the streets of Abuja are in contravention of the Electoral Act, which states that campaign activities cannot commence until 150 days to the polls.
Abdullahi argued that while the APC is hoisting billboards instead of fixing the nation’s broken economy, inflation has soared, the naira has collapsed, petrol prices have multiplied, kidnapping has morphed into an industry while governance is abandoned.
The ADC image maker noted that “Every unlawful rally is a billboard of failure,” and pledged to challenge the ruling party when the window opens, at the ballot box.
The coalition party explained that for several months, “APC organs have staged rallies and erected billboards endorsing President Tinubu for a second term.
“From the Abuja national caucus that proclaimed him ‘sole candidate’ to the choreographed declarations in Port Harcourt, Minna, Kano, and Akure; these theatrics brazenly ignore the Electoral Act and the fresh warning issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) , which reminds every politician that public campaigning is illegal until one hundred and fifty days before polling day.”
The ADC further said that “While the ruling party chants four more years and sings songs of a sinking mandate, prices have galloped beyond the reach of ordinary citizens. Headline inflation, already 22 per cent in 2023, rocketed to a thirty-year high of almost 35 per cent last December and still hovers above 22 per cent today, meaning food, transport, and rent now cost roughly 60 per cent more than they did at the time he took office.
“The naira has crumbled from about N461 to the dollar in early 2023 to well over N1,500, wiping out savings and strangling small enterprises. Petrol that once sold for N185 per litre before subsidy removal now averages more than N1,000, turning every journey to work or market into an exercise in anguish.
“Debt is devouring the treasury. The World Bank projects that servicing our obligations already swallows more than our total federal revenue, leaving scarcely a kobo for schools, clinics, or roads. Revenue mobilization limps along at barely eleven percent of our Gross Domestic Product, far below the continental average, yet the government borrows again and again and again.”
The opposition party took time to explore other indicators and came to a conclusion that Nigerians are living under a strangulating socio-economic condition coupled with a complete breakdown of the security architecture.
“When it comes to insecurity, in communities across the nation, security has deteriorated into a national nightmare. Between April and June this year, 122 security personnel consisting of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Police and Soldiers have been killed; 1,865 civilians have been killed, and over 3,132 security-related killings have been reported across the nation.
“Only last Friday, more than 50 people were seized in a major case of mass abduction in Sabon Gari Dirmi, north of Zamfara State. Nigerians are being abducted at an industrial scale while President Tinubu chases after adoption for second term. Instead of security personnel, our streets are lined with the President’s campaign Billboards.
“In the power sector, the national grid collapsed a dozen times last year and several times this year, exposing the hollowness of President Tinubu and the APC’s promises of reliable power. Corruption indices still rank Nigeria in the bottom quarter of the world and press-freedom scores have fallen ten places in a single year, as independent journalists face mounting pressure, ” the party lamented.
The opposition party urged the APC to dismantle its” unlawful campaign machinery, respect the law it swore to uphold, and focus on rescuing Nigerians from grinding inflation, a battered naira, rampant insecurity, and collapsing public services.”