‘A mother’s death should never be material for partisan ridicule,’ ADC tells APC

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of insensitivity after the ruling party criticised former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi over his comments linking the rising cost of medicines to his mother’s death.

The ADC said the APC’s response to Amaechi’s account of his family’s struggle to afford medication was an act of “political cruelty” rather than an engagement with the economic hardship confronting Nigerians.

Amaechi, the African Democratic Congress’s vice-presidential candidate, had said during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday that the rising cost of drugs under President Bola Tinubu’s administration made it difficult for his family to care for his mother before she died.

“Because policies are killing people. I’ve lost my mother. Before Tinubu, my mother was healthy. Suddenly, by the time Tinubu came, it was difficult to buy drugs for my mother,” he said.

The APC subsequently faulted the former governor’s remarks, describing him as “unfit” to occupy the office of vice-president.

However, Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communications of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, condemned the ruling party’s response in a statement issued on Sunday.

Shaibu said the death of Amaechi’s mother and the grief of his family should not become subjects of political ridicule.

“A mother’s death and a family’s grief should never be turned into material for partisan ridicule,” he said.

“If Rotimi Amaechi says he struggled to afford his mother’s medication, the humane response is compassion.”