Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has praised Nigerians for their resilience and endurance amid the severe economic hardship and insecurity in the country. In a message to mark today’s Independence Day, the ex-Vice President lamented that at 65: “Nigeria remains a giant moving painfully slow on the feet of clay.”

He blamed the country’s woes since gaining independence from colonial rule in 1960 on decades of poor leadership and wasteful governance. Atiku criticised the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government for failing to protect the people.

He said: “Nigerians are enduring excruciating pains from raging insecurity, rising food scarcity, mass unemployment, and a dangerous climate of hopelessness, all compounded by the insensitivity of the APC administration. “It is tragic that in a country blessed with immense human and material resources, millions of our people have been reduced to refugees and beggars in their fatherland.

“Every responsible government holds the welfare and security of its citizens as supreme. “But what we have today is an administration that has abandoned its people. Hunger is killing Nigerians, bandits are massacring communities, yet President Tinubu and his cabinet stand by, unmoved and uncaring.”

Atiku said 2027 provides Nigerians an opportunity to reject bad leadership and reclaim the promise of a better tomorrow. Atiku added: “At 65, Nigeria remains a giant moving painfully slow on the feet of clay, a direct result of decades of poor leadership and wasteful governance.”