ADC Condemns Reliance on U.S. Airstrikes, Calls Tinubu’s Leadership on Security Into Question

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has sharply criticized the recent U.S. military airstrikes in Sokoto State, framing the operation as a symptom of the Tinubu administration’s failure to uphold its core constitutional duty to secure the nation.

In a statement issued on Friday, the party’s spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, declared that President Bola Tinubu has “outsourced his most important constitutional responsibility,” effectively taking a back seat in his own government. The ADC questioned Nigerian sovereignty, asking, “who is truly in charge of our country?”

The criticism follows the December 25, 2025, airstrikes by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) against Islamic State militants in northwestern Nigeria. U.S. officials described the action as coordinated with Nigerian authorities, though details on the extent of Nigerian involvement remain sparse.

While the ADC affirmed its support for “all lawful and effective measures” to defeat terrorism and save lives, it firmly reiterated its “long-standing opposition to the physical operation of foreign military forces on Nigerian soil.”

The party stated it accepts the Sokoto strikes only as “a desperate measure that must not be allowed to substitute for a Nigeria-led action.” It directly linked the need for foreign intervention to what it called the “historic incompetence” of the Tinubu administration in handling security.

“The action can only be justified in the context of the historic incompetence of the current administration,” the ADC asserted, accusing the government of treating national security as “an afterthought” while focusing on revenue collection.

Further escalating its critique, the ADC lambasted the government’s communication over the incident. The party noted that while the President addresses the nation directly on political matters, Nigerians first learned of the foreign military strike via a social media post by the American President, with only secondary confirmation from Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.

“This reflects a frightening lack of awareness of the historic significance of this incident by the President of Nigeria,” the statement concluded.

The ADC ended by demanding full transparency from the government, calling on it to inform Nigerians of the strike’s outcomes, including the number of terrorists killed.