ADC, APC bicker over campaign issues

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have differed over what should constitute issues in the current campaigns to woo voters in the presidential election.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council had in a statement accused the ADC of failing to pay party workers for over 12 months.

Replying, the ADC said they understand the APC’s desperation to change the conversation, saying “The real issue is the cost of living. The real issue is the absence of jobs and opportunities for our young people. The real issue is the insecurity that continues to threaten lives, livelihoods, and communities across the country.

National Publicity Secretary of the ADC Bolaji Abdullahi, in a statement added that “When a government has no achievements to defend, it must manufacture allegations to discuss.

“These are the issues on which this government must be judged, and no amount of propaganda can redeem it.”

The opposition party said “It is becoming increasingly clear that the APC has decided to run its 2027 campaign on allegations against the opposition rather than achievements of its own. That is what happens when a government has spent years making promises it cannot keep and excuses it cannot defend.”

The party therefore advised the APC campaign to spend less time inventing stories about the ADC and more time explaining why Nigerians should reward their party with another term “after the hardship, insecurity and economic uncertainty of the last three years.”

In a statement issued on Monday, the spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Dele Alake, described the non-payment of staff salaries as “wicked and reprehensible,” arguing that it exposes the “emptiness and insincerity” of opposition leaders positioning themselves as alternative governance choices for Nigeria.

“We find it unconscionable that a political party that has made many grandiose promises to hoodwink Nigerians owes its workers for more than 12 months,” Alake stated. “Owing staff who come to work every day and who rely on the salaries for their daily sustenance is wicked and reprehensible. A party that cannot pay its cleaners and workforce cannot be entrusted with our country’s affairs.”