• ADC: “Tinubu’s desperate government is exploiting Buhari’s death”
• Presidency to ADC: “You lied, it was Atiku, El-Rufai that turned Buhari’s burial for political relevance”
By Abiola Olawale
A heated exchange has erupted between the Nigerian Presidency and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) following the opposition party’s criticism of the Bola Tnubu’s administration to the effect that the later was desperately exploiting the burial former President Muhammadu Buhari for political relevance.
In a statement released on Friday, July 18, 2025, the ADC, through its Interim National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi, had accused the Tinubu-led administration of using Buhari’s passing as a “political tool to launder its battered image,” particularly in Northern Nigeria, where Buhari held significant influence.
The opposition party described the Federal Executive Council (FEC) tribute session and the prominent role of Buhari’s son, Yusuf, during the burial as a “calculated public relations stunt” and “political theatre.”
The statement reads in part: “The African Democratic Congress (ADC) condemns the Tinubu administration’s sudden and cynical attempt to wrap itself in the memory of the late President Muhammadu Buhari—a man this same government spent over a year blaming, sidelining, and scapegoating for every major challenge confronting the nation.
“The choreographed Federal Executive Council (FEC) tribute, complete with a publicised appearance by our late President’s grieving son, 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 the administration’s deepening failures and to rewrite history while the nation mourns. This is hypocritical and in bad taste. You cannot spend months discrediting a man’s legacy only to turn around and perform grief for the cameras.
“It is equally troubling that the young man, Mr. Yusuf Buhari, a private citizen and grieving son, was pulled into the political theatre of a Federal Executive Council meeting, just days after burying his father. Nigerians must ask, what kind of government uses the private pain of a bereaved family to varnish its public image?”
However, the Presidency responded swiftly on Saturday, July 19, with a strongly worded statement by Sunday Dare, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications.
Dare described the ADC’s comments as “opportunistic, obnoxious, and desperate,” accusing the party of exploiting Buhari’s death for political relevance.
The statement reads in part: “The latest outburst from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) regarding former President Buhari’s state burial is nothing but an opportunistic exercise in manufactured outrage.
”It’s a laughable tantrum by a poorly amalgamated political contraption desperately clutching at straws for relevance it will never attain.
”This is not the first time the ADC, in its pitiful, stuttering attempts at reinvention, has embarrassed itself with hollow, attention-seeking criticisms and press releases.
”Let it be said clearly: the ADC is the one exploiting Buhari’s death for political attention, not this government. They have chosen to dance on his grave for relevance.
”From Atiku and El-Rufai’s choreographed arrival in Daura, greeted with chants seeking to make political capital from the solemnity of the moment, to this disgraceful press statement, the ADC has shown itself to be utterly shameless.”
