Economy Collapse: Tinubu Can’t Disown Buhari’s APC Administration, ADC Replies Shettima

The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADCPCC) has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu cannot disown the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari following claims by Vice President Kashim Shettima that Tinubu saved Nigeria from economic collapse.

The council said Shettima’s assertion that Nigeria was heading towards “Caracas” before Tinubu assumed office was an indictment of the Buhari administration, which was also elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The reaction was contained in a statement on Sunday by the Director of Media and Publicity of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Kola Ologbondiyan.

Ologbondiyan said Shettima, in an attempt to defend what he described as the abysmal failures of the Tinubu administration, had resorted to rewriting the history of the APC.

He said if Nigeria was indeed heading towards collapse before Tinubu took over, the APC must accept responsibility because it controlled the Federal Government for eight years under Buhari.

“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 queried.

He said the APC could not disown its own record, recalling that Tinubu had repeatedly defended the Buhari administration and promised to build on Buhari’s legacy.

“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 accused the APC government of failing across sectors, citing bad roads, lack of electricity, collapsed institutions and rising cost of living.

“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.

According to him, Nigerians are already living the “Caracas” experience.

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

He also faulted Shettima’s promise to deploy 10,600 electric tricycles, 300 buses and electric taxis under an e-logistics programme “in the coming weeks”, describing it as another promise to be treated with caution.

He reminded the Vice President of the administration’s earlier promise that transportation costs would come down by October 1, 2026, and asked Nigerians to judge the government by delivery rather than fresh promises.

The ADCPCC urged Shettima and the APC to stop insulting the sensibilities of Nigerians through revisionist narratives and to acknowledge the challenges confronting the country.

The council assured Nigerians that the ADC remains a credible political alternative capable of rescuing the country from APC rule, and called on citizens to unite behind a government that would make life more affordable and restore economic security.