The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of exploiting the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari for political gain.
In a statement signed by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC described the Federal Executive Council (FEC) tribute to Buhari and the publicised appearance of his son, Yusuf Buhari, as a “calculated PR stunt by an unpopular government.”
According to the ADC, the Tinubu administration has spent over a year blaming Buhari for Nigeria’s economic woes, only to now stage public grief in a desperate attempt to whitewash its battered image, especially in the North and among Buhari’s loyalists.
The party noted that the same government that distanced itself from Buhari’s policies on fuel subsidy, the economy, and public sector management is now attempting to align itself with the very legacy it once disowned.
“Grief is not a campaign strategy,” the ADC said, warning that the late President’s family should be allowed to mourn in peace without being dragged into a political spectacle.
“The Tinubu administration’s sudden attempt to cloak itself in Buhari’s memory is hypocritical,” Abdullahi stated. “This is a government that spent months blaming him for every major challenge facing the nation. Now, they perform public grief to distract Nigerians from their deepening failures.”
He described the choreographed FEC tribute and Yusuf Buhari’s appearance as “stage-managed to rewrite history while the nation mourns.”
“It is deeply troubling that Mr. Yusuf Buhari, a private citizen and grieving son, was pulled into the political theatre of a Federal Executive Council meeting just days after burying his father. What kind of government uses a family’s private pain to varnish its public image?” Abdullahi queried.
He further noted that the Tinubu administration has repeatedly criticised Buhari’s policies, blaming him for Nigeria’s economic hardship while positioning itself as the solution.
“For months, their message was that Buhari was the problem and Tinubu was the solution. Now that it suits their political agenda, they pretend to honour him in death despite denying him respect while alive,” he said.
Abdullahi recalled that the ADC had earlier warned Buhari’s family about government plans to politicise his death. “What we saw at the Federal Executive Council was only the beginning. These stage-managed displays of grief and the exploitation of a mourning son are unconscionable and must be condemned by all decent Nigerians.”
He concluded, “Nigerians see through this grand deception. No PR stunt can salvage a government that has ruled like an army of occupation in the last two years.”
