ADC to Tinubu: US Action Exposes Your Incompetence

The African Democratic Congress has criticized President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s handling of national security following the United States airstrike on terrorist targets in Sokoto State, describing the development as a reflection of what it called deep-seated incompetence at the highest level of government.

In a statement released on Friday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said while it recognises the gravity of Nigeria’s security challenges and supports all lawful efforts to protect lives, the involvement of foreign forces on Nigerian soil raises serious concerns about sovereignty and leadership failure.

The party said it accepts the AFRICOM strike carried out on December 25 only as an emergency response, stressing that such action must not replace a Nigeria-led strategy to confront terrorism.

According to the ADC, the incident “can only be justified in the context of the historic incompetence of the current administration under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in dealing with the nation’s security challenges,” adding that governance under the President has been reduced to revenue collection while critical issues such as security and diplomacy are treated as an afterthought.

The party also criticised how Nigerians learned of the operation, noting that the first public information came from the American President’s social media post rather than from Nigeria’s leadership.

While acknowledging government claims that Nigeria provided intelligence support, the ADC said this only reinforced the impression that the country played a secondary role in an operation it ought to have led.

The party questioned why Nigeria allowed the situation to be framed in religious terms by foreign actors if the engagement was truly collaborative.

The ADC demanded clarity from the Federal Government on the nature of the cooperation, asking how much operational control Nigerian forces exercised, how many terrorists were actually killed, and why Nigeria, despite spending trillions of naira on security, could not execute the mission itself.

It also asked what special technology or expertise was lacking locally and what concrete outcomes Nigerians should expect from the strike.

Warning against what it described as a dangerous slide from strategic cooperation into surrender, the party said President Tinubu appeared to have “outsourced his most important constitutional responsibility,” adding that Nigerians were justified in asking who truly controls the country when the President seemed compelled to defer publicly to a foreign leader.

The ADC reaffirmed its support for the fight against terrorism but said it was deeply worried about the long-term implications of the strike for Nigeria’s sovereignty, strategic autonomy and national self-respect.

It stressed that a single airstrike cannot end a conflict of this scale and insisted that the government must now clearly explain its next steps and address the critical questions raised by the incident.