Tinubu’s Sudden Food Reform Driven by Panic Over 2027 Elections, ADC Alleges
By: Israel Adeleke
OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) News reports that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of acting out of political panic rather than genuine concern, following the government’s recent move to address food insecurity.
OTN News further reports that the party claims the sudden policy shift is a desperate response to growing opposition momentum and fear of losing the 2027 presidential election.
In a strongly worded statement issued by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC described the Tinubu administration as one driven by “calculated incompetence” and more concerned with managing political optics than resolving Nigeria’s deepening food crisis.
OTN News observes that the party’s reaction came in response to a public statement made on Saturday by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
OTN News recalls that, Onanuga had announced that the government would now remove all bottlenecks impeding food sovereignty and agricultural exports, presenting it as a bold step toward improving national food security.
However, the ADC interpreted the announcement as a damning admission that the government had knowingly delayed necessary reforms while Nigerians endured widespread hunger and economic hardship.
The statement read:
"On Saturday, when Bayo Onanuga tweeted before the world that, moving forward, all bottlenecks hindering “the realisation of the Tinubu administration’s potential” would be removed to enable food sovereignty and export, he didn’t just issue a statement; he issued a confession. A confession that this government had, by design, been sitting on its hands while Nigerians starved.
"Now, under mounting political pressure, they want applause for doing the bare minimum? This is not reform. This is not leadership. This is a scramble for survival by an administration that has been cornered by its own failures.
"Let us make one thing clear: it took the emergence of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the growing momentum of a united opposition to push this government into action. It wasn’t the hunger of hundreds of millions of Nigerians that moved them; it was fear. Fear of the 2027 elections. Fear that Nigerians have woken up. Fear that, with a united opposition, 2027 will be a clear-cut election between the APC and the Nigerian people.
"Make no mistake, the APC has been deliberately weaponising poverty. After Bayo Onanuga’s statement that they would no longer delay in removing bottlenecks that had hindered food security, the only conclusion possible from that statement is that the government had deliberately sat on its hands and watched Nigerians starve in the last two years.
"We must all begin to ask this government the obvious questions: If the bottlenecks that Onanuga alluded to in his press statement could have been removed earlier, why did they keep them in place while millions went hungry and businesses collapsed? Was it so they could stage a last-minute, propaganda-driven performance closer to the 2027 elections?
"This is a pattern. This is a strategy. This is not a government reacting to an urgent national crisis; it is a political machine managing optics. Every move they have made has been about political calculation ahead of 2027. Nigerians, shine your eyes.
"The president is not governing. He is campaigning two years early because he knows he’s in trouble. He knows Nigerians have had enough. And the worst part? He is risking the country’s future, all in the name of his re-election bid. Onanuga’s declaration is not about food security or economic diplomacy; this is about politics and 2027.
"The ADC calls on all Nigerians, do not be swayed by choreographed press releases and sudden awakenings. This is not governance. This is desperation," the statement added.
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