The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of using the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari as a “political tool to launder its battered image”.
The opposition party described the special federal executive council (FEC) meeting held in Buhari’s honour as “political theatre”.
In a statement on Friday, Bolaji Abdullahi, interim national publicity secretary of the ADC, said the FEC tribute was a “calculated PR stunt”.
He said Yusuf, Buhari’s son, was “compelled to perform gratitude in front of the cameras”.
Abdullahi said the same government that spent over a year blaming Buhari for Nigeria’s economic woes is now trying to appropriate his legacy for political survival.
“This administration has consistently distanced itself from Buhari’s policies, especially on subsidy removal, the economy, and public sector governance,” the statement reads.
“Now, it seeks to align with the very legacy it spent months tearing down.
“Nigerians must ask, what kind of government uses the private pain of a bereaved family to varnish its own public image?
“The choreographed tribute at FEC was not a demonstration of genuine respect. It was a calculated public relations stunt by an unpopular government, carefully stage-managed to distract Nigerians from its deepening failures.
“You cannot spend months discrediting a man’s legacy only to turn around and perform grief for the cameras.”
The party’s spokesperson alleged that what transpired at the FEC meeting was part of a broader plan to capitalise on Buhari’s death, especially to win sympathy in the north and among Buhari loyalists.
“Earlier this week, we warned the late president’s family of this plan,” Abdullahi said.
“What we witnessed at FEC was only the beginning. The exploitation of a mourning son, compelled to perform gratitude before the cameras, is unconscionable and must be condemned by all decent people.
“Grief is not a campaign strategy. Let the family mourn their father in peace.”
Abdullahi said no amount of public relations spin will salvage what it described as “a government that has behaved, in the last two years, like an army of occupation”. (The Cable)
