ADC Campaign Council Challenges Shettima’s Claim That Tinubu Saved Nigeria From Collapse

The opposition says a warning that Nigeria was heading for “Caracas” condemns the APC’s own eight years under Buhari.

By: Ganiyu Olayinka

The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADCPCC) has rejected Vice President Kashim Shettima’s claim that President Bola Tinubu rescued Nigeria from economic collapse, arguing that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) cannot disown the record of the Muhammadu Buhari government. In a statement issued on Sunday, the council’s Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, said Shettima’s remarks amounted to an indictment of the APC itself.

What Shettima said

Shettima spoke to journalists in Lagos on Saturday, October 3, after visiting Tinubu, who recently returned from his annual vacation. According to news reports, he said the economy was “teetering on the verge of collapse” when Tinubu took office in 2023, and that Nigeria was “on the road to Caracas,” a comparison with Venezuela’s economic crisis. He credited the removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of exchange rates with averting the worst, said foreign reserves stood at about $3.9 billion when the government began, and urged Nigerians to be “generous” toward the President.

Shettima acknowledged the hardship facing citizens but said it would not last forever. He also announced that, in the coming weeks, the government would launch an e-logistics programme and deploy 10,600 electric tricycles, along with 300 buses and electric taxis, to reduce transport costs. Reports differ on whether the e-logistics rollout is for the North-West or the North-East.

The ADC’s response

Ologbondiyan said that if Nigeria was indeed heading towards collapse before Tinubu, the APC must accept responsibility, since it governed under Buhari for eight years. He argued that the same party, and a President who had defended Buhari’s record and promised to build on it, was now seeking to distance itself from its own past. “Nigerians do not know Buhari as an individual,” he said; “Nigerians know APC.”

The council described the economy under Tinubu in stark terms, citing hunger, inflation, naira devaluation, insecurity, unemployment and a high cost of living, and said the poor state of roads, electricity and public institutions showed the country was already living “the Caracas experience.”

Ologbondiyan also urged caution over the electric tricycle and bus plan, calling it another promise. He recalled an earlier pledge the ADC attributes to the administration that transport costs would fall by October 1, 2026, and asked Nigerians to judge the government on delivery. The council said the ADC remains committed to offering a credible alternative.

Context

The exchange comes as campaigning intensifies ahead of the 2027 elections. Shettima said the government would keep governing as political activity grows, while the ADC, which is fielding a presidential campaign council, is using economic hardship as a central argument. The Vice President’s claims about reserves and the effect of the reforms, and the ADC’s claims about the present state of the economy, are contested and can be checked against figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria and the National Bureau of Statistics.