Abuja – The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Tinubu and his administration of using the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari for political gain, describing Thursday’s Special Federal Executive Council (FEC) tribute as a “publicity stunt by an unpopular government.”
The allegation was contained in a statement issued Friday by the party’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi. The ADC said the outpouring of praise for Buhari from a government that had “spent over a year blaming and sidelining him” over Nigeria’s economic challenges was hypocritical and “in bad taste.”
President Tinubu, speaking at the FEC session held in Buhari’s honour at the State House, Abuja, paid a glowing tribute to his predecessor, calling him “a good, decent, and honourable man” whose discipline, patriotism, and integrity would be remembered for generations. He acknowledged Buhari’s imperfections but said his commitment to national service distinguished him.
The ADC countered that the administration had repeatedly distanced itself from Buhari-era policies—especially on fuel subsidy, economic management, and public sector governance—only to now “cloak itself in the very legacy it once denounced.”
“The choreographed FEC tribute, complete with a publicised appearance by our late President’s grieving son, was not a demonstration of genuine respect,” the party said. “It was a calculated PR stunt staged to distract Nigerians from the administration’s deepening failures and to rewrite history while the nation mourns.”
The party expressed concern over the inclusion of Yusuf Buhari, describing him as a private citizen in mourning, and questioned why the presidency would “exploit a family’s grief to polish its image,” particularly in northern political constituencies where Buhari retains strong grassroots support.
The ADC said it had earlier warned the Buhari family that efforts were under way to leverage the late leader’s passing for political advantage. “What we witnessed at the FEC this week is only the beginning,” the statement added.
It further accused the Tinubu administration of mounting a sustained effort since taking office to blame Buhari for fiscal distress and economic hardship—arguing that the presidency cannot now selectively embrace his legacy for political optics.
“You cannot spend months discrediting a man’s record and then perform grief for the cameras,” Abdullahi said. “Nigerians can see through the grand deceit.”
The ADC maintained that no public-relations campaign can rescue a government that has “behaved in the last two years like an army of occupation.”
Presidential aides had not formally responded to the ADC’s allegations as of press time.
