Former presidential aspirant and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Adamu Garba, has cautioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu against relying on aides and political loyalists who, he claims, are feeding him misleading reports about the country’s situation and the state of the ruling party.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, Garba said there is a growing disconnect between the harsh realities facing Nigerians and the narrative presented to the president by those around him.
“There is a lot of sycophancy around the president,” Garba said. “People are telling him that things are okay, but things are not okay. Nigerians are suffering, and our party is losing ground because we are not listening to the truth.”
APC crisis deepens after Ganduje’s exit
Garba’s comments came amid rising political tension following the controversial resignation of Abdullahi Ganduje as APC National Chairman. He argued that Ganduje’s exit has exposed cracks within the ruling party that could undermine its unity ahead of the 2027 elections.
“The leadership crisis we see today is not an isolated issue. It shows that the APC has lost touch with its founding principles. If we don’t resolve these internal battles, the opposition will take advantage,” he warned.
Opposition coalition seen as serious threat
The APC chieftain expressed worry about the newly formed African Democratic Congress (ADC) coalition, which is attracting several prominent opposition figures.
“The ADC coalition is like a group of vultures waiting to prey on our weakness,” Garba said. “They want to capitalise on the cracks in our party. We need to stop pretending everything is fine and start rebuilding our structures from the ground up.”
Decline of APC dominance in the north
Garba lamented that the APC’s political dominance in northern Nigeria has sharply declined since former President Muhammadu Buhari left office in 2023 and following his death in July 2025.
“Buhari was the lifeline of our party in the north. He always delivered 12 million bloc votes. But in 2023, we barely managed 5.5 million votes from the north. That should be a wake-up call,” Garba said.
He stressed that without Buhari’s influence, the party must find new ways to maintain grassroots loyalty and re-energise its support base.
Call for honest leadership and reform
Garba urged Tinubu to face the reality of Nigeria’s economic and political challenges rather than relying on flattering reports from party loyalists.
“The president needs to engage directly with Nigerians, not just those who tell him what he wants to hear,” he said. “We need a leadership that accepts criticism and takes bold steps to fix what is broken.”
He added that the APC must learn from the downfall of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which lost power in 2015 due to complacency and internal divisions.
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