The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has accused President Bola Tinubu of practising Bourdillon politics.
Bourdillon is the President’s Lagos residence, and he is fondly called the lion of Bourdillon.
The allegation was contained in a statement ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi released in response to Tinubu’s latest appointments that is populated by individuals from the North including former Head of States, Ibrahim Babangida’s son, Mohammed, who is made Chairman, Bank of Agriculture.
In it, ADC considered the Northerner-dominated appointments as a failed attempt by Tinubu to pacify the north after allegedly squandering the cordial feelings the people of the region had towards him.
“You cannot marginalise a region for over twenty-five months and expect applause because you suddenly remembered on the twenty-sixth month that Nigeria is bigger than Lagos State,” Abdullahi wrote.
The opposition party urged the President to abandon what it described as “Bourdillon-style appeasement politics,” and turn to real national inclusion through consultation, policy equity, and sincere federal character.
The statement also comprised of this: “For over a year, this government turned a blind eye as bandits terrorised villages in the north, as our farmers abandoned their land, and as rural economies crumbled under the weight of poorly thought-out fuel subsidy removal.
“Now, under the rising heat of public discontent, and with the emergence of a formidable opposition coalition gaining traction in the North and across the country, President Tinubu suddenly remembers that there are Nigerians to appoint into positions outside his Lagos.
“Every major decision of this administration, from subsidy removal to a majority of the political appointments, have been taken without the North at the table. Now that the consequences of those decisions have become glaring, the President is doling out appointments as consolation prizes.
“But Northerners as co-owners of our great federal republic know better than to be deceived by these token appointments. They see through President Tinubu’s actions — and can sense that this is not genuine. Tokenism is not inclusion, and symbolism is not governance.”
