The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of exploiting the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari as a “political tool to launder its battered image.”
In a strongly worded statement issued by Bolaji Abdullahi, interim national publicity secretary of the ADC, described the special federal executive council (FEC) meeting held in Buhari’s honour as “political theatre” and “a calculated PR stunt.”
“This administration has consistently distanced itself from Buhari’s policies, especially on subsidy removal, the economy, and public sector governance,” the statement reads. “Now, it seeks to align with the very legacy it spent months tearing down.”
Abdullahi alleged that Buhari’s son, Yusuf, was “compelled to perform gratitude in front of the cameras,” accusing the government of staging the tribute as a means to manipulate public perception. “Nigerians must ask, what kind of government uses the private pain of a bereaved family to varnish its own public image?”
He continued, “The choreographed tribute at FEC was not a demonstration of genuine respect. It was a calculated public relations stunt by an unpopular government, carefully stage-managed to distract Nigerians from its deepening failures. You cannot spend months discrediting a man’s legacy only to turn around and perform grief for the cameras.”
The ADC claimed the tribute was part of a broader plan to gain political mileage from Buhari’s death, particularly in the northern region and among Buhari loyalists. “Earlier this week, we warned the late president’s family of this plan,” Abdullahi said. “What we witnessed at FEC was only the beginning. The exploitation of a mourning son, compelled to perform gratitude before the cameras, is unconscionable and must be condemned by all decent people.”
“Grief is not a campaign strategy. Let the family mourn their father in peace,” he added.
Concluding the statement, Abdullahi said, “No amount of public relations spin will salvage what has behaved, in the last two years, like an army of occupation.”
