‘APC cannot separate itself from past record’ – ADC tells Shettima

The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADCPCC) has criticised Vice President Kashim Shettima’s claim that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu saved Nigeria from economic collapse.

The council said Shettima’s statement that Nigeria was heading towards “Caracas” before Tinubu became president was also an indictment of the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, which governed the country under the same All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a statement on Sunday, the council’s Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, accused Shettima of trying to rewrite the APC’s history while defending what he described as the failures of the Tinubu administration.

Ologbondiyan said that if Nigeria was heading towards economic collapse before Tinubu took office, the APC should accept responsibility because it governed the country for eight years under Buhari.

According to him, “Vice President Shettima’s statement is self-indicting. If Nigeria was heading to Caracas under Buhari, it means Buhari and the APC deceived Nigerians for eight years.

“And if that is the case, why should Nigerians believe Tinubu, who is of the same APC stock and was a major promoter and defender of the Buhari administration?” 

Ologbondiyan said the APC could not separate itself from its past record, noting that Tinubu had previously defended Buhari’s administration and promised to build on its achievements.

According to him, efforts by Tinubu and Shettima to distance the current government from Buhari amount to an admission that the APC has failed Nigerians.

“But Nigerians do not know Buhari as an individual; Nigerians know APC. It is the APC, on whose platform President Tinubu is seeking a second term, that has failed Nigerians for almost 12 years and is undeserving of another four years,” he said.

Ologbondiyan also accused the APC government of failing in areas including roads, electricity and public institutions, while saying the rising cost of living remained the biggest concern for ordinary Nigerians.

“Our roads are no longer motorable, there is no electricity, our institutions have collapsed. But what concerns ordinary Nigerians today is food, food and food, not baseless propaganda.

“President Tinubu has not saved Nigeria from collapse; he has pushed the country deeper into economic ruin, marked by unprecedented hunger, hyperinflation, naira devaluation, insecurity, mass unemployment and excruciating cost of living,” he said.

He further rejected Shettima’s description of Nigeria as heading towards a “Caracas” situation.

“Nigerians are not heading to Caracas; under the APC, Nigerians are already living the Caracas experience in their own country,” Ologbondiyan said.

The ADC campaign council spokesman also questioned the Vice President’s promise to introduce 10,600 electric tricycles, 300 buses and electric taxis under an e-logistics programme in the coming weeks.

He recalled the government’s earlier promise that transport costs would fall by October 1, 2026, and urged Nigerians to judge the administration by what it delivers rather than by new promises.

The ADCPCC called on Shettima and the APC to stop what it described as attempts to rewrite the country’s political history and instead focus on the challenges facing Nigerians.

The council said the ADC remained committed to providing what it described as a credible alternative to the APC and called on Nigerians to support a government that would make life more affordable and restore economic stability.