ADC accuses Tinubu of playing politics with Buhari's death

The coalition-backed African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Tinubu of using the death of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, to score cheap political mileage.

In a statement by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, on Friday, July 18, 2025, the opposition party slammed the outpouring of tributes to Buhari at the special Federal Executive Council (FEC), describing the event as “a deliberate publicity stunt by an unpopular administration.”

Speaking at the Special FEC session held in Buhari’s honour on Thursday, the President showered his predecessor with glowing tributes, calling him “a good, decent, and honourable man,” whose values of discipline, patriotism, and integrity would be remembered for generations.

He acknowledged that while Buhari had his imperfections, his steadfast dedication to national service distinguished him.

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The event was attended by members of the deceased family, National Assembly principals, Governors, cabinet members and other top government functionaries.

However, Abdullahi said the incumbent administration had spent more than a year holding Buhari responsible for the nation’s economic woes, yet was now publicly mourning the same man as a strategy to burnish its tattered image, particularly in the North and among Buhari’s supporters.

“The ADC recalled how the government previously distanced itself from Buhari’s policies, especially on fuel subsidy, the economy, and public sector management, only to now attempt to cloak itself in the very legacy it once denounced," he said.

“The African Democratic Congress condemns the Tinubu administration’s sudden and cynical attempt to wrap itself in the memory of the late President Muhammadu Buhari—a man this same government spent over a year blaming, sidelining, and scapegoating for every major challenge confronting the nation.

“The choreographed Federal Executive Council (FEC) tribute, complete with a publicised appearance by our late President’s grieving son, 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 the administration’s deepening failures and to rewrite history while the nation mourns.

“This is hypocritical and in bad taste. You cannot spend months discrediting a man’s legacy only to turn around and perform grief for the cameras,” the party stated.

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The ADC expressed deep concern over the involvement of a mourning son, Yusuf Buhari, whom it described as a private citizen, in the alleged political display of a FEC meeting just days after his father’s burial.

The party questioned the decision, accusing the Tinubu government of exploiting a family’s grief to polish its public image.

“Nigerians remember that since taking office, the Tinubu administration and its officials have launched a relentless campaign to disown their predecessor’s policies.

“They have blamed Buhari for everything, accused him of fiscal recklessness, and claimed to have inherited a broken economy—not from the opposition, but from their own party’s former leader.

“For months, the official stance of the Tinubu Presidency was that Nigeria’s hardship was Buhari’s fault. The message was clear: Buhari was the problem, Tinubu was the solution.

“But now that it suits their political agenda, they seek to recast themselves as defenders of the late President’s legacy, pretending to give him in death the honour they denied him while he was alive.

“Recall that earlier this week, the ADC warned the family of the late President of the Plan by the government to make political gains from their father’s death.

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“What we witnessed at the Federal Executive Council this week was only a part of the larger plan that had only started to unfold,” it added.