Your token appointments won't buy back the North - ADC tears into Tinubu

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Tinubu of attempting to regain the trust of the Northern Nigerians with token appointments.

In a statement signed by its acting National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the coalition party criticised the President's latest appointments of northerners, saying the move smacks of “political panic management,” rather than sincere efforts at national inclusion.

This comes after Tinubu made a raft of appointments on Friday, July 18, 2025. He appointed Muhammad Babangida, son of former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida, as the Chairman of the revamped Bank of Agriculture, as well as seven other northerners as heads of federal agencies.

However, the ADC described the move as a desperate attempt to placate the people of the region, whom the current government had neglected since assuming office.

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“You cannot marginalise a region for over twenty-five months and expect applause because you suddenly remembered on the twenty-sixth month that Nigeria is bigger than Lagos State,” the statement read.

Abdullahi accused the Tinubu administration of calculated neglect, claiming that the North has been systematically overlooked from critical decision-making since the inception of his presidency.

“For over a year, this government turned a blind eye as bandits terrorised villages in the North, as our farmers abandoned their land, and as rural economies crumbled under the weight of poorly thought-out fuel subsidy removal.

“Now, under the rising heat of public discontent, and with the emergence of a formidable opposition coalition gaining traction in the North and across the country, President Tinubu suddenly remembers that there are Nigerians to appoint into positions outside his Lagos,” Abdullahi stated.

The ADC further claimed that the current administration has placed the North on the back burner in terms of major policy and appointments, adding that the recent gestures were nothing more than “consolation prizes.”

“But Northerners, as co-owners of our great federal republic, know better than to be deceived by these token appointments. They see through President Tinubu’s actions — and can sense that this is not genuine. Tokenism is not inclusion, and symbolism is not governance,” the publicity secretary said.

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The opposition party urged the President to do away with what it termed “Bourdillon-style appeasement politics,” and pursue genuine national unity through broad-based consultation, policy fairness, and adherence to the principles of federal character.

“You cannot patch a broken roof with press releases and photo-ops. And you certainly cannot restore the trust that you have lost with the public by pretending that titles are a substitute for genuine commitment to nation-building,” the statement added.