Former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has said President Bola Tinubu’s administration cannot be trusted with the conduct of the 2027 general elections.
Atiku, in his New Year message issued on Wednesday, December 31, said the president is reckless with democratic norms and in breaking laws.
The former vice president, who described 2025 as one of the most painful New Year messages he has ever written due to the hardships Nigerians have been subjected to, noted that the Tinubu administration told Nigerians to make sacrifices, but it is extravagant in the management of the nation’s resources.
“Sacrifice is patriotic—but it becomes cruel when demanded by leaders who live extravagantly, insulated from the suffering of the people. Leadership without shared pain is not leadership; it is exploitation,” he said.
Atiku stated that 2025 was defined by economic suffocation, political recklessness, and governance without empathy under the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.
“The past year exposed, in stark terms, the incompetence and policy bankruptcy of President Bola Tinubu.
“Governing for months without a functional budget, the administration relied on propaganda while borrowing recklessly, pushing the nation to the brink of economic collapse.
“Nothing better captures the decay of this government than the scandal of a forged tax law, shamelessly branded a ‘reform.’
“Even more disturbing was the President’s refusal to allow due legislative and legal processes to address what is clearly a criminal act,” he stated.
He accused the Tinubu administration of arrogance and contempt for public opinion, hostility to criticism, and “willingness to punish Nigerians through bad policies.”
He noted that Nigeria’s democratic foundations were deliberately weakened, as the APC worked systematically to deform the nation’s multiparty democracy into a de facto one-party state through coercion, intimidation, and state capture.
“While drowning the nation in debt, the government falsely claimed to have met revenue targets,” he said, adding that kidnappings, abductions, and violent crimes have worsened.
“Lives were lost, livelihoods destroyed, and communities terrorised, while government assurances rang hollow.
“The administration spoke endlessly of economic recovery, yet unemployment, underemployment, labour unrest, and collapsing small businesses defined the year. Industries shut down. Workers were sent home. Hunger spread. Suffering became normalised,” he added.
The former vice president, however, told Nigerians not to surrender to despair but to see hardships as the fuel for national awakening.
“Democracy gives the people the power to change a failing government—peacefully and decisively—through the ballot.
“Do not allow religion or ethnicity to divide you. Division only serves those who benefit from your suffering. Unity is the path to rescue,” Atiku added.
