Presidency Fires Back at ADC Over ‘Final Year’ Birthday Jibe; Aides Tell Opposition to Stop ‘Reinventing History’ and Prepare for the Polls

The Presidency has dismissed a controversial birthday “greeting” from the African Democratic Congress (ADC), labeling the suggestion that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is in his “final year in office” as a desperate political fantasy. A series of sharp rebuttals from the President’s media team “flipped the script” on the ADC’s critique, turning a birthday message into a heated debate over the 2027 political horizon.

The row began when the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, issued a statement wishing the President a happy 74th birthday while simultaneously claiming his “Renewed Hope” agenda had turned into “hopelessness.” Abdullahi’s remark that the President should use his “final year” to take governance more seriously triggered an immediate wave of “knocks” from the State House. Olusegun Dada, the Special Assistant on Social Media, took to X (formerly Twitter) to remind the opposition that “leadership in a democracy is determined by the electorate, not political commentary.”

The Presidency’s “Solution” to the ADC’s claims of economic failure was to point toward the long-term necessity of the fuel subsidy removal. O’tega Ogra, Senior Special Assistant on Digital Media, accused the ADC of “selective amnesia,” stating that the administration is currently fixing a “commonwealth” that was bled dry by years of “subsidized illusions.” He argued that the ADC’s portrayal of a “one-party drift” was merely a cover for the opposition’s own internal disorganization and inability to offer a credible alternative.

This war of words underscores the intensifying political climate as Nigeria moves closer to the 2027 election cycle. While the ADC maintains that the President has “not earned a second term” due to the rising cost of living, the Presidency insists that the foundations for recovery are already solid. As the APC continues to welcome defectors from other parties, the administration’s aides have told the ADC to “stop the lamentations” and focus on the ballot box rather than trying to predict the end of a presidency that “is just getting started.”