From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said claims by President Bola Tinubu’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, that the opposition is plotting to topple the Federal Government before the 2027 polls is a ploy by the government to clamp down on opposition leaders.
The ADC, in a statement by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, described Onanuga’s tweet, in which he made the allegation, as reckless.
The opposition party noted that such “unsubstantiated claim signals a broader campaign of intimidation and repression against political opposition leaders by the Tinubu administration.”
It called on the international community, democratic governments across the world, as well as human rights organisations, to closely monitor the unfolding political development in Nigeria.
According to the ADC, President Tinubu’s administration should be held accountable for any action that undermines the democratic or political rights of Nigerians.
The statement reads in part: “Bayo Onanuga’s tweet is a textbook example of a political dog whistle. The APC-led federal government appears to be constructing a false narrative that is designed to justify a potential clampdown on dissent and to criminalise legitimate opposition activity under the guise of national security.
“The ADC is not interested in truncating democracy; we are solely committed to saving the nation from the irredeemable incompetence of this government. And the only means available to us is the democratic means. We are not soldiers, we are politicians. We don’t have bullets; we only have the ballots. When the time comes, we will only present our solutions and an alternative vision of the future to the Nigerian people and leave them to make their choice.
“We are left to wonder why the APC government is so jittery that it is so eager to betray its own heritage. APC is the first opposition party to come to power in Nigeria. It is, therefore, a great wonder that the same party now appears to find it strange that there is an opposition at all.
“We therefore call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to promptly caution his aides from further baseless but dangerous allegations that have the potential to heat up the system even two years ahead of the next election. This manner of crying wolf when there is none does not make the president look good and only betrays a sense of panic.
“We also call on the Nigerian people to be vigilant and discerning, and to reject the underhanded tactics being deployed to de-legitimise the opposition and silence alternative voices.”
The health of our democracy depends on a free, open, and competitive political environment.”