ADC Mocks APC, Says It Repackaged 2023 Promises in New 2027 Elections Manifesto

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described the newly released 2027 manifesto of President Bola Tinubu and All Progressives Congress (APC) as a shameless repackaging of promises made in 2023, many of which remained unfulfilled.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC said the document read like the manifesto of a new political party seeking power for the first time, rather than one that had governed Nigeria since 2015 and presided over the worst affordability crisis Nigerians had experienced.

ADC stated, “The fundamental question Nigerians must ask is simple: why is a government campaigning on promises it should already have fulfilled? President Tinubu has been in office since May 2023.

“The APC has controlled the federal government for nearly 12 years. Yet, reading this manifesto, one would think they are only now discovering the problems they were elected to solve.

“In 2023, President Tinubu promised health insurance for 40 per cent of Nigerians within two years. Today, barely one in 10 Nigerians is covered, and the same target has been moved to 2031.

“He promised one million ICT jobs within 24 months. His government’s own figures indicate only about 15,000 jobs and opportunity pathways.”

The statement added, “In 2023, the APC described electricity supply of 4,500 megawatts as a crisis. Its new manifesto acknowledges average generation of just 4,022 megawatts. How does a government campaign to solve a crisis it has made remarkably worse?

“Most astonishingly, President Tinubu now promises a programme for his first 100 days after re-election, including measures he already possesses the executive powers to implement right now. What exactly is stopping him from acting today? What stopped him from acting in 2023 when he came into office?”

ADC emphasised that Nigerians should not have to re-elect a president to get  him to do the job they elected him to do four years earlier.

Abdullahi said, “Tinubu wants Nigerians to forget that poverty has risen to 63 per cent under his watch; that the N70,000 minimum wage has lost more than a quarter of its purchasing power, and that millions of families can no longer afford the basic necessities of life.”

He stated, “Yet, rather than account for the hardship he has inflicted on Nigerians and his long catalogue of failures across the economy and security sectors, the president and his party have the temerity to present another colourful brochure full of the same undelivered promises.”