Tinubu in ‘full panic mode’, N50,000 cash transfers an election gimmick — ADC

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described the federal government’s N50,000 monthly cash transfers to vulnerable Nigerians as an election gimmick ahead of the 2027 polls, TheCable reports.

In a statement on Saturday, the party’s national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the intervention showed that President Bola Tinubu was in “full panic mode”.

The payments were announced on Friday by Bernard Doro, minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty reduction, under the National Emergency Relief and Stabilisation Intervention (NERSI).

“It is just a desperate and cynical attempt to buy back the goodwill of the people. But it is too little, too late,” Abdullahi said.

He questioned the programme’s timing: “If they could give N50,000 to vulnerable Nigerians, why didn’t they factor it into reform plans from day one rather than make it an election-season handout?”

Abdullahi also cited an auditor-general’s report which said there was insufficient evidence that N33.75 billion meant for 3.29 million vulnerable households in 2023 reached genuine beneficiaries.