By George Mgbeleke

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has dismissed President Bola Tinubu’s Democracy Day address as “another campaign speech masquerading as a presidential address,” arguing that after three years of the Tinubu administration and eleven years of APC rule, Nigerians deserve results rather than fresh promises. The party said the President’s repeated assurances on economic recovery, security and job creation amounted to an admission that the APC had failed to deliver on the very promises that brought it to power in 2015. According to the ADC, a government that is still asking for patience after more than a decade in power cannot continue to blame the past for Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, cost-of-living crisis and unemployment challenges. The opposition party insisted that Democracy Day should have been an opportunity for the President to showcase how his government has benefited the people, not another campaign promises.
The ADC also criticised the National Assembly for proceeding on recess on such a historically momentous day that should have provided opportunity for the representatives of the people to evaluate our democratic journey.

The full statement read:

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has carefully reviewed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Democracy Day address to the nation. While we join Nigerians in commemorating the sacrifices of the heroes of June 12 and celebrating twenty-seven years of uninterrupted democratic rule, we find it quite unfortunate that rather than use the occasion to demonstrate how this democracy under his watch has delivered real benefits to citizens, the President chose to speak like a candidate contesting for election rather than a leader who has been in the saddle for more than three years.
President Tinubu’s address was long on promises and short on answers. What Nigerians heard today was not the speech of a government entering its fourth year in office. It was the speech of a candidate seeking another mandate. Throughout the address, the President asked Nigerians to believe once again that prosperity is just around the corner, that economic reforms will soon bear fruit, that jobs are coming, that security is improving,

The question Nigerians should be asking is simple: after three years of President Tinubu and eleven years of APC rule, why are we still talking about promises?

The APC came to power in 2015 promising to tackle insecurity, revive the economy, create jobs, reduce poverty, strengthen institutions, and improve the quality of life of Nigerians. Eleven years later, these same issues continue to dominate the government’s speeches. The fact that the President is still making many of the same promises that brought the APC to power is itself an admission that those promises remain unfulfilled.

Most striking was the President’s attempt to present his administration as though it has only recently arrived in office. President Tinubu has been in power for three years. The APC has governed Nigeria for more than a decade. At this stage, Nigerians are not interested in projections. They are interested in outcomes. They are not looking for assurances. They are looking for evidence.

The President spoke extensively about economic reforms. Yet he failed to adequately address the reality that millions of Nigerians are experiencing one of the most severe cost-of-living crises in recent memory. Food prices remain painfully high.

Transportation costs have soared. Small businesses continue to struggle under rising operating expenses. Families across the country are making painful sacrifices simply to survive. Nigerians cannot be expected to celebrate economic theories while enduring economic hardship.
Democracy Day should have been an opportunity for the President to account for eleven years of APC stewardship. It should have been an opportunity to explain why, under him, the lives of Nigerians have been rendered worthless, why millions of Nigerians are struggling with the cost of living, why unemployment and underemployment remain widespread, and why public confidence in government continues to decline. Instead, Nigerians were presented with another catalogue of future intentions.

The ADC believes that a government that is still making promises after eleven years in power is effectively admitting that it has not delivered. A government that continues to ask for patience after three years in office is acknowledging that the promised results have not materialised. Nigerians deserve more than speeches about what may happen tomorrow. They deserve answers about what has happened over the last eleven years.

President Tinubu’s Democracy Day address confirms what many Nigerians already know: this administration is increasingly focused on managing expectations rather than delivering outcomes. The government wants credit for promises and applause for intentions, while ordinary Nigerians continue to bear the consequences of its failures.
After eleven years of APC rule and three years of President Tinubu’s administration, Nigerians deserve answers. They deserve accountability. Above all, they deserve a government that delivers.
The ADC also condemns the decision of the National Assembly to proceed on holiday on a day that marks a great moment in our democratic journey. The legislature is the bastion of democracy anywhere. A moment like this is an opportunity for the elected representatives of the people to celebrate democracy by showcasing their commitment to hold the government to account on behalf of the people they represent. Unfortunately, when it matters most, the APC led National Assembly demonstrated, once again, a painful lack of historical awareness by shutting down the house of democracy on democracy day.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has commended the Senate Committee on the South East Development Commission (SEDC), led by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, for what it described as a courageous, diligent and constitutionally mandated exercise of legislative oversight in probing the financial activities of the South East Development Commission.

HURIWA

The rights group particularly expressed outrage over allegations presented before the Senate Committee that the Commission allegedly expended N153 million on the rent of a one-room liaison office in Abuja and listed another N2.5 billion under what was reportedly categorized as “implied expenditure.”

According to HURIWA, such allegations, if established through investigation, represent a shocking abuse of public trust and a reckless deployment of scarce public resources at a time millions of citizens in the South-East region continue to grapple with poor infrastructure, youth unemployment, insecurity, inadequate healthcare facilities and widespread economic hardship.

“The Nigerian people are entitled to know how every kobo appropriated for regional development is spent. The allegations emerging from the Senate hearing are deeply troubling and demand immediate, transparent and independent investigation. No public official entrusted with development funds should be allowed to treat public resources as personal assets.”

HURIWA specifically called on the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately invite the Managing Director and relevant management officials of the South East Development Commission for interrogation and forensic scrutiny of all expenditures made from the N16.6 billion allocation.

The association stated that the Senate Committee has already performed its constitutional responsibility by exposing apparent discrepancies and demanding accountability and that anti-corruption agencies must now complement that effort through criminal and forensic investigations where necessary.

“If investigations establish financial misconduct, diversion of public funds, inflation of contracts, procurement violations or any form of abuse of office, arrests and prosecutions must follow without delay. Public office holders must understand that accountability is not negotiable and that impunity can no longer be tolerated in institutions created to uplift disadvantaged regions.”

HURIWA noted that the South East Development Commission was established to address decades of infrastructural deficits and developmental neglect in the region and not to become another bureaucratic structure for wasteful spending.