The Presidency accused opposition figures, led by the African Democratic Congress (ADC), of launching unsubstantiated attacks on President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Presidential spokesman Sunday Dare who urged the party to address its internal disarray, fired back at claims by Nnenna Ukeja, a former House of Representatives Foreign-Affairs committee chairman who at a recent press conference alleged that President Tinubu had abandoned his democratic credentials.
Ukeja spoke for the ADC National Legislators Coalition.
“Even before the official commencement of the election season…the ‘opposition,’ a hurriedly stitched together contraption in search of a launch pad, is screaming blue murder,” Dare said.
He described the ADC’s event as “remarkably full of theatrics but expectedly short on substance, restraint, and constitutional fidelity”—a distraction from the party’s struggles with “coherence and balance.”
Dare noted the coalition’s opening praise for President Tinubu’s history of boosting opposition politics and democratic pluralism under military rule, only to pivot to accusations of him undermining those values now.
“You cannot spend the first half of a press conference affirming a man’s lifelong commitment to democracy, and the second half alleging—without proof—that he has abandoned it,” he said.
The spat stemmed from President Tinubu’s recent general remarks decrying political “noise,” which the ADC interpreted as targeting it.
Dare called that reading “self-indictment,” adding: “Democracy thrives on competition…but it also demands organisation, coherence, and credibility.”
He dismissed ADC claims of judicial interference as “speculative and irresponsible,” insisting that Nigeria’s judiciary remains independent.
Dare counseled the ADC to “put its house in order,” saying it lacks preparation for governance.
