2027: APC resorts to cash, gifts to mask Tinubu’s failures – ADC

By Luminous Jannamike ABUJA – The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of using cash, food and gifts at political gatherings to mask the failures of President Bola Tinubu’s administration and manufacture public support ahead of the 2027 elections. The council said the reported handouts were an attempt to buy political enthusiasm at a time millions of Nigerians were struggling with the cost of food, transportation and other basic necessities, insisting that temporary inducements could not erase the hardship confronting households.

In a statement by its Director of Strategic Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the ADC PCC cited reports of luxury vehicles allegedly presented to APC women leaders, cash and cooked food distributed by the President’s son through the City Boy Movement, as well as videos showing an APC women leader sharing money and fabrics. “The pattern is becoming impossible to ignore,” the council said, citing the reported distributions as evidence of what it described as the ruling party’s attempt to turn political support into a commodity.

“From reports of luxury vehicles presented to APC women leaders, to cash and cooked food distributed by the President’s son through the City Boy Movement, and now videos circulating of an APC women leader handing out money and fabrics, the ruling party appears to be treating political support as something that can be bought,” it added. The ADC PCC described the reported distributions as particularly insensitive given the economic difficulties facing ordinary Nigerians.

“After three and a half years of economic hardship, rising insecurity and mounting public debt, the APC has little to show Nigerians. Its answer is to display cash and gifts at political events, as though a brief handout can erase the daily struggle families face or buy their votes,” the council said. It also questioned what it described as selective enforcement of currency laws, demanding that the authorities explain why ordinary Nigerians were pursued over alleged abuse of the naira while reported cash distributions at political gatherings appeared to attract a different response.

“The same authorities that have pursued ordinary Nigerians over alleged abuse of the Naira must explain why apparent cash distribution by political operatives at campaign events should be treated differently. The EFCC and INEC must investigate these incidents and take appropriate action wherever electoral or currency laws have been breached,” it said.

On the administration’s borrowing, the council demanded greater accountability over the scale, terms and utilisation of government loans, arguing that the financial burden on Nigerians remained a major concern. “The Tinubu administration has pushed millions deeper into poverty, while Nigerians continue to demand answers about the scale, terms and use of government borrowing.

Cash, gifts and staged displays cannot conceal a record of failure,” the ADC PCC added. It insisted that neither financial inducements nor elaborate political gatherings could dictate how Nigerians would vote in 2027. “No amount of money can compel Nigerians to endorse a government that has made life harder for them. The people’s votes are not for sale, and no manufactured crowd can substitute for their verdict at the ballot box,” the council declared.

The ADC PCC urged the EFCC and INEC to investigate the reported distributions and publicly disclose the steps being taken, warning that political parties must not be allowed to use cash or gifts to compromise electoral integrity. It maintained that the ultimate test of the APC’s popularity would not be the size of crowds or the volume of gifts distributed at political gatherings, but the verdict Nigerians deliver at the ballot box.