The African Democratic Con­gress (ADC) has described the recent appointments by Presi­dent Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the Northern region as coming too late.

The party, which also de­scribed the appointments as desperate, cynical attempt to buy back the trust that the president had spent over a year squandering, particularly in Northern Nigeria, said that the region could not be bought over.

APC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said: “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.”

The party added: “These ap­pointments are nothing more than ‘political panic manage­ment,’ a frantic attempt to bandage the gaping wounds inflicted on Northern Nigeria by over a year of calculated ne­glect, presidential arrogance, and unprecedented nepotism.

“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.”

The ADC urged Tinubu’s administration to abandon what it described as “Bourdil­lon-style appeasement politics,” and embrace real national in­clusion through consultation, policy equity, and sincere fed­eral character.