The African Democratic Congress and the Allied Peoples Movement have strongly criticized President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress over their newly released 2027 manifesto, labeling the document as merely a recycling of unfulfilled commitments made during the 2023 elections.
The ADC also added that many of the promises had remained unfulfilled.
On their part, APM campaign said though President Tinubu can copy Makinde’s ideas, he “manifestly lacks the leadership capacity, intellectual depth and integrity to implement Makinde’s core vision of ‘Nigeria that work for all Nigerians.”
ADC in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the document reads like “the manifesto of a new political party seeking power for the first time, rather than one that has governed Nigeria since 2015 and presided over the worst affordability crisis Nigerians have experienced under the current administration.
“The fundamental question Nigerians must ask is simple: Why is a government campaigning on promises it should already have fulfilled? President Tinubu has been in office since May 2023. The APC has controlled the Federal Government for nearly twelve years. Yet, reading this manifesto, one would think they are only now discovering the problems they were elected to solve.
“In 2023, President Tinubu promised health insurance for 40 per cent of Nigerians within two years. Today, barely one in ten Nigerians is covered, and the same target has been moved to 2031. He promised one million ICT jobs within 24 months. His government’s own figures indicate only about 15,000 jobs and opportunity pathways.
“In 2023, the APC described electricity supply of 4,500 megawatts as a crisis. Its new manifesto acknowledges average generation of just 4,022 megawatts. How does a government campaign to solve a crisis it has made remarkably worse?
The ADC emphasized that Nigerians should not have to re-elect a President to get him to do the job they elected him to do four years earlier.
On their part, APM accused APC of copying their policies, adding that the ruling party will find it difficult to implement.
Richard Ihediwa, Director of Strategic Communications of the Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organization (MDPCO) said APC has “descended further into public ignominy by appropriating unique ideas in the manifesto of the Presidential Candidate of the APM, Seyi Makinde and presenting same as theirs in the APC manifesto.”
The MDPCO said,”this intellectual appropriation amounts to a tacit admission that Makinde’s reset Nigeria vision offers an unassailable alternative to President Tinubu’s faltering leadership.
“In any event, our campaign is not surprised that apart from ideas stolen from Makinde vision, which the APC cannot implement, President Tinubu and the APC presented a woeful compendium of lies and deceit laced with bogus claims and projections they cannot achieve to Nigerians as Tinubu’s 2027 election Manifesto”.
What You Should Know
Opposition political parties are accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress of presenting an election manifesto for 2027 that lacks original ideas and fails to address ongoing economic challenges like high living costs and inadequate electricity supply. While the ruling party lays out its future vision, critics argue that these projections do not match the current realities faced by everyday citizens.
- Positive Impact: Heightened political debate forces political parties to be more accountable and transparent regarding their policy implementation and public spending.
- Potential Concerns: Citizens face continued uncertainty as political bickering over unfulfilled promises distracts from urgent national economic relief and infrastructural development.
