Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described President Bola Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC) administration as worse than a military dictatorship, during the launch of the book The Loyalist by African Democratic Party (ADC) National Publicity Secretary Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi in Abuja on Monday.
Atiku, the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, stated that the Tinubu government is the worst he has witnessed in nearly four decades in Nigerian politics.
“We have a unique opportunity within the ADC as a political party. It is a convergence of various political leanings across the country, united in an effort to reunite Nigeria and renew our democratic journey,” Atiku said.
“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. Not even the military dictatorships before 1999 damaged our national life and consciousness in the way this administration has done. Many of us here were part of the formation of the APC. Unfortunately, what we believed would rescue the country has not happened,” he added.
The former VP urged Nigerians to support the opposition coalition party, ADC, as a vehicle for restoring democracy and national cohesion.
Speaking earlier at the event, former Osun State Governor and ex-Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola criticised the APC’s reliance on governors to secure electoral victories, noting that party control at the state level does not guarantee election wins.
“Despite President Tinubu’s hold on Lagos, he still lost in his ward and the state. The APC controlled all states in the South West except one, yet the party’s maximum performance in that election was 55 per cent. In the South East, the APC had only 5.8 per cent of the total vote. This shows that governors do not win elections—the people do,” Aregbesola said.
He also urged the APC and the federal government to commit to free and fair elections, emphasising that credible electoral processes are essential for reflecting the will of the people.
