Tinubu chasing shadows abroad while Nigerians die at home – ADC

Tinubu chasing shadows abroad while Nigerians die at home — ADC

 

 

 

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Sunday slammed President Bola Tinubu for pushing Nigeria’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, describing the move as “a shameful distraction” while insecurity ravages communities across the country.

 

In a scathing statement issued on Sunday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, accused Tinubu of “seeking global prestige he has not earned,” pointing out that bandits, kidnappers, and terrorists continue to wreak havoc while the government looks the other way.

 

Vice President Kashim Shettima had, at the ongoing United Nations General Assembly in New York, reiterated Nigeria’s demand for a permanent Security Council seat on Tinubu’s behalf. But the ADC mocked the request, arguing that a government unable to protect its own citizens has no business sitting in judgment over global security.

 

“How can a government under which bandits are butchering Nigerians in their homes and worship centres, while farmers pay taxes to warlords in Zamfara, be taken seriously on global security matters?” the ADC asked.

 

The party highlighted that in the past two months alone, over 140 Nigerians were killed in Zamfara and Katsina states, with entire villages destroyed. Citing Amnesty International’s figure of more than 10,000 lives lost since May 2025, the ADC noted these were “not statistics but human beings abandoned by a government more concerned with photo-ops abroad.”

 

The statement described the situation as “a collapse of state authority,” warning that non-state actors now operate as parallel governments in some parts of the country.

 

It added: “When criminals decide who farms, who pays and who lives, the government has surrendered sovereignty. Yet this same government stands before the world and begs for a seat among serious nations. It is laughable, it is embarrassing.”

 

The ADC also criticized Tinubu for skipping the recent commissioning of 874 military cadets at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna for the second consecutive year.

 

“With villages burning, mosques turning into killing fields, and Nigerians under siege, a serious Commander-in-Chief would have gone to Kaduna to inspire the officers. Instead, Tinubu ran to Lagos to cut ribbons at a theatre. That is not leadership; it is misplaced obsession with showmanship,” the ADC said.

 

The party accused the administration of treating mass killings as routine, responding only with “hollow condolence tweets” while the country bleeds.

 

“A President who can declare a state of emergency over politics in Rivers, but cannot do the same for the existential crisis in Zamfara and Katsina, cannot pretend that all Nigerian lives matter,” the ADC added.

 

The ADC concluded that until Tinubu demonstrates the will and capacity to protect Nigerians, any talk of a permanent Security Council seat remains “a bad joke at the expense of a bleeding nation.”