By Kazeem Waris
The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council, ADCPCC, has turned Vice President Kashim Shettima’s warning that Nigeria was heading towards a “Caracas” situation before President Bola Tinubu assumed office into a political indictment of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
The ADC campaign council argued that if Nigeria was indeed heading towards economic collapse before Tinubu took office, the APC must accept responsibility for the situation, having controlled the Federal Government for eight years under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The position was contained in a statement yesterday by the Director of Media and Publicity of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Kola Ologbondiyan.
Ologbondiyan said the APC could not distance itself from the Buhari administration while Tinubu, who is seeking re-election on the party’s platform, had repeatedly defended the former administration and pledged to build on its legacy.
He said: “Vice President Shettima’s statement is self-indicting. If Nigeria was heading to Caracas under Buhari, it means Buhari and the APC deceived Nigerians for eight years.”
The ADC campaign council said Nigerians were less interested in political narratives than in their daily struggle to afford food and basic necessities, amid what it described as deteriorating infrastructure, poor electricity supply, weakening public institutions and rising living costs.
Ologbondiyan said: “But Nigerians do not know Buhari as an individual; Nigerians know APC. It is the APC, on whose platform President Tinubu is seeking a second term, that has failed Nigerians for almost 12 years and is undeserving of another four years.”
Rejecting Shettima’s description of Nigeria as merely heading towards a “Caracas” scenario, the ADC campaign council alleged that the country was already experiencing conditions associated with such a crisis.
“Nigerians are not heading to Caracas; under the APC, Nigerians are already living the Caracas experience in their own country,” Ologbondiyan said.
He further accused the Tinubu administration of worsening hunger, inflation, naira devaluation, insecurity, unemployment and the cost of living.
“President Tinubu has not saved Nigeria from collapse; he has pushed the country deeper into economic ruin,” he said.
The ADC council also faulted the Vice President’s promise to deploy 10,600 electric tricycles, 300 buses and electric taxis under an e-logistics programme.
It recalled the administration’s earlier promise that transportation costs would fall by October 1, 2026, questioning the gap between such assurances and the realities facing Nigerians.
The opposition campaign council urged the APC to acknowledge the challenges confronting Nigerians, insisting that the ADC remained committed to offering an alternative government
