ADC Blasts Tinubu’s ‘Moral Cowardice’ Over Silence on Maduro Capture

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has launched a blistering attack on President Bola Tinubu’s administration, accusing it of “moral cowardice” and “embarrassing silence” following the dramatic capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by United States forces. In a statement released on Monday, January 5, 2026, the opposition party claimed that Nigeria’s failure to take a definitive stand more than 48 hours after the military raid in Caracas is a clear sign that the nation has lost its influential voice on the global stage.

Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC National Publicity Secretary, argued that the government’s refusal to comment “reeks of fear.” He suggested that the silence stems from a lack of internal legitimacy, asserting that the Tinubu administration is unable to defend international doctrines of sovereignty because its own democratic credentials are under scrutiny. “Nigeria’s silence has nothing to do with neutrality,” Abdullahi stated, adding that it instead reveals a government that lacks the confidence to engage in principled diplomacy.

The ADC went further to draw a chilling parallel between the fall of the Maduro regime and the current political atmosphere in Nigeria. The party described the Venezuelan crisis as a “cautionary tale” for leaders who rely on electoral fraud and repression to maintain power. By highlighting the widely condemned 2024 Venezuelan elections, the ADC suggested that authoritarian leaders and “election riggers” can no longer hide behind national borders to shield themselves from international accountability once they lose the will of their people.

In the eyes of the ADC, Nigeria is abdicating its role as Africa’s largest democracy. The party expressed concern that while other nations and international bodies have voiced their alarms or support regarding the “Trump Corollary” of interventionism, Abuja has remained conspicuously mute. This “diplomatic disappearing act,” the party warned, risks reducing Nigeria to an insignificant spectator in a rapidly shifting world order where the rules of sovereignty are being violently rewritten.

The statement concluded with a sharp warning that democracy must be more than mere “electoralism.” The ADC insisted that governments that prioritize their own survival over the rights and voices of their citizens will eventually find themselves exposed and isolated. As Maduro awaits his day in a New York courtroom, the ADC maintains that the silence from the Presidential Villa in Abuja is a loud admission of a “crisis of legitimacy” that could have far-reaching implications for Nigeria’s own democratic future.