The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has berated President Bola Tinubu over his 2026 Democracy Day address, accusing him of failing to confront the realities of worsening economic hardship and instead offering what it described as recycled promises after three years in office.
The opposition party, in a strongly worded statement on Friday, said the President’s speech reflected “a campaign-style narrative” rather than a sober assessment of governance, insisting that Nigerians were again being told to endure hardship in anticipation of future prosperity.
According to the ADC, the address was “long on promises and short on accountability,” arguing that it failed to provide concrete answers to the country’s deepening economic and security challenges.
The party also took a swipe at the leadership of the National Assembly for proceeding on recess on Democracy Day, describing the action as “insensitive” at a time when citizens were demanding stronger oversight and accountability from elected officials.
While acknowledging the significance of June 12 in Nigeria’s democratic history, the ADC said the occasion should have been used by the President to give a clear scorecard of governance under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), rather than “another catalogue of future intentions.”
The party further criticised the administration’s economic direction, citing rising food inflation, transportation costs, and the worsening condition of small businesses struggling with high operating expenses.
“Nigerians cannot be expected to celebrate economic theories while enduring real hardship,” the ADC said, insisting that the government’s repeated assurances of recovery had lost credibility.
It added that the current situation reflects broader disappointment with the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, which it said has been in power for more than a decade without resolving core issues of insecurity, unemployment, poverty, and weak institutions.
“What Nigerians heard was not the speech of a government entering its fourth year in office, but that of a politician seeking another mandate,” the party said.
The ADC maintained that since the APC came into power in 2015, it had repeatedly promised to fix the economy, create jobs, improve security, and reduce poverty, but that many of these challenges remain largely unresolved.
The opposition party argued that the continued reliance on promises, projections, and policy forecasts shows what it described as a disconnect between government and citizens.
“At this stage, Nigerians are not interested in projections. They are interested in outcomes,” the ADC added.
The party further said President Tinubu missed an opportunity to address the “cost-of-living crisis” confronting millions of Nigerians, insisting that the administration appeared more focused on managing public expectations than delivering measurable results.
It concluded that after 11 years of APC-led governance and three years under Tinubu, Nigerians deserve tangible improvements in living standards rather than repeated assurances of future gains.
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