African Democratic Congress (ADC) has strongly criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for allegedly kick-starting his 2027 re-election bid while the country remains under a state of emergency, calling it a cynically insensitive action that makes nonsense of the emergency declaration itself.

In a statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC criticised the President’s distribution of branded vehicles to campaign agents across the country even as kidnapped citizens languish in captivity and security forces struggle to contain escalating violence and banditry.

The ADC stated that by launching his re-election campaign under the guise of “Renewed Hope Ambassadors”, Tinubu was acting more like a presidential candidate focused on re-election than a President of a beleaguered nation under emergency rule, with worsening security crises engulfing the country.

The party also alleged that the President’s action was a patent violation of the Electoral Act and the INEC timetable.

The statement reads: “The African Democratic Congress (ADC) is deeply appalled by reports that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has distributed fleets of Hilux trucks, Land Cruisers, and Hummer buses to political agents across the country, thereby effectively kick-starting his 2027 re-election bid.”

“Coming at a time when Nigeria remains under a declared state of emergency due to the worsening crisis of insecurity, this action confirms that the President’s declaration of security emergency was a mere gimmick to grab newspaper headlines and means nothing to a President whose priority remains his re-election.

“While ordinary citizens are being kidnapped, displaced, and killed, the President is handing out branded vehicles and building a partisan mobilisation structure. Entire communities are living under siege, our armed forces are stretched thin, yet the ruling party is preparing for rallies. At a time when children are being kidnapped, and countless communities are under attack, the President is focused on re-election, seeking to continue presiding over a nation that has become more diminished, more fractured, and more dangerous than he met it.”