From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said that President Bola Tinubu cannot buy back the trust of the North with “token appointments” ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The ADC, in a statement by its interim spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, yesterday, described the recent appointments by President Tinubu as ploy to win back the trust he has allegedly squandered in the North.
The Federal Government, on Friday, appointed Mohammed Babangida, son of former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, and eight others as heads of federal agencies.
However, the opposition party described the appointments as “too little, too late,” stating that “you cannot marginalise a region for over 25 months and expect applause because you suddenly remembered on the 26th month that Nigeria is bigger than Lagos State.”
It added that the appointments were allegedly “a frantic attempt to bandage the gaping wounds inflicted on Northern Nigeria by over a year of calculated neglect, presidential arrogance and unprecedented nepotism.”
According to the party, the government for over a year, allegedly “turned a blind eye as bandits terrorised villages in the north,” forces farmers to abandon their land, with rural economies crumbling “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.
“Every major decision of this administration, from subsidy removal to a majority of the political appointments, have been taken without the North at the table. Now that the consequences of those decisions have become glaring, the President is doling out appointments as 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 party urged the President Tinubu administration to abandon what it described as Bourdillon-style appeasement politics and embrace real national consultation, policy equity, and sincere federal character.
