Former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has described the administration of President Bola Tinubu as the worse in Nigeria’s history.
Atiku who spoke at a book launch, “The Loyalist”, written by the National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said not even the military dictatorship before 1999 has done incalculable damage to national life and consciousness in the way Tinubu administration has done.
The former vice president who was a foundation member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), regretted that the formation of the party, which was to rescue the country, was defeated by presidents elected on the platform of the party since 2015.
“Just as we once took responsibility to come together and form a political alternative, we must again come together to ensure the emergence of a new political organisation capable of salvaging this country for the benefit of its people,” he advised.
Atiku described the formation of the ADC as another unique opportunity to rescue Nigeria from APC’s misrule, because, according to him, the ADC “is a convergence of various political leanings across the country, united in an effort to reunite Nigeria and renew our democratic journey.”
The former vice president further added that, “If there is anything positive in our recent political development, it is this coming together to rescue the country from what I consider the worst administration I have witnessed in nearly four decades of political life.”
Atiku stated that Nigeria’s diversity is its strength, saying, “Our unity is a shared project worthy of all our efforts.
“We must foster dialogue across generations, identities, regions, and political persuasions. That is what I find very fundamental and inspiring.”
ADC National Secretary, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, said the fact that some governors are defecting to the APC does not shows that opposition is being weakened.
Aregbesola argued that the statistics of the result of the 2023 presidential election do not support the belief that governors determine the outcome of an election.
He used the results from two geopolitical zones – South West and South East, to support his argument.
“In the South West, the APC controlled all the states except two. Despite this, the maximum performance of the party in that election was 55%, with the other parties sharing the rest.
“The same applied in Lagos. The APC candidate lost his ward, local government, and state. So please, for goodness’ sake, where is the claim that governors win elections against the people’s will?
“In the South East, the result is even more striking. The APC had only 5.8% of the total vote from that zone.
“The results of these two zones clearly show that governors do not win elections—the people do.
“What we require from the government in charge of the election is a commitment to a free and fair process… commit yourself to a free and fair election, and let us see what the result will be. That’s what we are asking,” the former Osun State governor demanded.
The book launch brought top politicians from the ADC, including the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in 2023, Mr. Peter Obi, former Rivers State governor Chibuike Amaechi, his Ekiti State counterpart, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal among others.
