The African Democratic Congress has claimed that President Bola Tinubu’s food security reforms are motivated by the fear of an emerging opposition coalition rather than genuine concern for Nigerians.

In a statement on Sunday, ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the increasing strength of a united opposition is what has compelled the government to act.

Tinubu, through a statement issued on Sunday by his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, vowed to remove all obstacles limiting Nigeria’s agricultural growth, especially in livestock production, as part of efforts to attain food sovereignty and boost international exports.

Reacting, ADC wondered why it had taken the emergence of the coalition to make the Tinubu government start thinking of how to make food available to Nigerian people.

Abdullahi noted that without the pressure mounted on the government with the successful unveiling of the opposition coalition last week, the government would have persisted in its calculated indifference to the plight of the Nigerian people.

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.”

It added, “Fear that Nigerians have woken up. Fear that, with a united opposition, 2027 will be a clearcut 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.”

The ADC questioned why those policies were maintained while millions of Nigerians went hungry and businesses shut down.

The statement continued, “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.” (PUNCH)