Tinubu recycling failed 2023 promises in 2027 manifesto, says ADC

By Luminous Jannamike, Abuja The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has accused President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC, of recycling unfulfilled 2023 campaign promises in their newly unveiled 2027 manifesto, challenging the President to account for his record before seeking another mandate. The party said the manifesto reads like the programme of a political party seeking power for the first time, rather than that of a government that has controlled the Federal Government for nearly 12 years and has had more than three years under Tinubu to deliver on its promises.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC cited healthcare coverage, ICT job creation and electricity generation as examples of promises it said the administration had failed to fulfil, questioning why Nigerians should be asked to embrace another set of commitments without an account of the previous ones. “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 twelve years. Yet, reading this manifesto, one would think they are only now discovering the problems they were elected to solve,” the ADC said. The party recalled that Tinubu had promised in 2023 to extend health insurance coverage to 40 per cent of Nigerians within two years and create one million ICT jobs within 24 months.

It claimed that barely one in ten Nigerians was now covered by health insurance, while government figures indicated that only about 15,000 jobs and opportunity pathways had been recorded, with the health insurance target shifted to 2031. The ADC also questioned the administration’s electricity performance, pointing out that the APC had described 4,500 megawatts of power generation as a crisis in 2023, only for its new manifesto to acknowledge average generation of 4,022 megawatts.

“How does a government campaign to solve a crisis it has made remarkably worse?” the party queried. The opposition party further faulted Tinubu’s promise to introduce a programme for his first 100 days after re-election, arguing that the president already had the executive powers to implement the proposed measures without waiting for another electoral victory.

“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?” the ADC asked. In the economy, the party accused the President of seeking another mandate without addressing the hardship confronting millions of households, claiming that poverty had risen to 63 per cent and the N70,000 minimum wage had lost more than a quarter of its purchasing power.

“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,” the statement said. The ADC insisted that campaign promises could no longer substitute for an assessment of the administration’s performance.

“A manifesto is a promise of what a party will do. A record is evidence of what it has done. After eleven years, the APC cannot keep presenting promises as a substitute for performance,” it declared. It challenged Tinubu to publish a comprehensive account of his 2023 commitments, detailing what he had delivered, what remained unfulfilled and why the deadlines were missed, rather than shifting targets and repackaging old promises.

The party said the 2027 election would be a referendum on Tinubu’s performance since assuming office, not an opportunity for him to present his presidency as though it were just beginning. “The President must understand that 2027 is first a referendum on his abysmal record since 2023, not an opportunity to pretend that his presidency is just about to begin.

Nigeria needs a change of government, not another change of slogans,” the ADC declared.