The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the Tinubu administration of appropriating state institutions to advance the President’s 2027 political agenda.
In a statement issued on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said reports of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) contracting a long-standing political henchman of the President for election logistics, as well as the appearance of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police at the launch of the pro-Tinubu City Boy Movement, showed “a cynical disregard for public sensitivity.”
The ADC also described the development as “a dangerous pattern whereby partisan actors are being positioned to handle sensitive election materials while heads of state institutions that are required to be neutral are brazenly co-opted into partisan politics.”
The party warned that the developments raised serious questions about the neutrality of Nigeria’s electoral and security institutions ahead of the 2027 elections and demanded immediate explanations from both INEC and the Nigeria Police Force.
Part of the statement read, “The African Democratic Congress is compelled to raise the alarm over a dangerous development that is becoming impossible to ignore under the Tinubu administration: there are no longer any discernible boundaries between the Nigerian state and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Political actors are openly infiltrating state institutions, while head of security units who should statutorily maintain neutrality are shamelessly turning into political cheerleaders of the ruling party and the President.
“While this has increasingly gone worse as the 2027 election approaches, perhaps nothing illustrates the absurdity more clearly than a serving Commissioner of Police appearing at the launch of the so-called “City Boy Movement” and reports that a faction of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), led by a notoriously well-known henchman of President Tinubu is being engaged by the Independent National Electoral Commission to transport election personnel and sensitive materials.
“INEC’s credibility depends not only on conducting free and fair elections, but on inspiring confidence among all political stakeholders. Any logistics arrangement that potentially undermines the integrity of the electoral process because of the involvement of partisan individuals in handling sensitive materials would certainly cast a long shadow of doubts on whether the process has been manipulated.
“On the basis of this reported engagement alone, it is pertinent to suspect that something sinister is afoot. Especially, when only a few days ago, the President declared before visiting religious leaders that “all is fair in war.” This statement by the President betrays a desperate state of mind of someone who would do anything to advantage himself, even if it means hijacking election materials.
“Equally troubling is the participation of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police at the launch of a political movement established to advance President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election. The Nigeria Police Force belongs to the Nigerian people, not to any political party. Senior police officers must not only remain impartial, they must also be seen to be impartial.”
The party called on the INEC to clarify the nature of its engagement with the faction of NURTW associated with one of the contestants in the election, even if the contestant is the President, saying that “Our electoral process cannot be used for political patronage. As the leading opposition party, we will not accept any dealings by the INEC that is likely undermine the integrity of the elections. In addition to this statement, we will be writing to the Chairman of INEC to demand clear explanation of this incestuous engagement.”
The ADC also call on the Inspector-General of Police to explain whether the attendance of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police at the City Boy Movement event was officially authorised and whether such conduct is consistent with the political neutrality expected of senior officers of the Nigeria Police Force.
The party also demanded that the Inspector-General of Police should either take decisive disciplinary action against the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, if he did not authorise his attendance at the event, or he should issue to him a blanket approval to accept invitations and attend political activities of other political parties as well.
For a start, the ADC invited the Inspector-General of Police and the FCT Commissioner of Police to its upcoming event in Abuja, details of which it added will be respectfully communicated to them soon, stressing that ‘In the interest of fairness and equity, we fervently expect them to attend.”