The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has raised alarm over the wave of defections by opposition governors and lawmakers to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general election.

Describing the development as a coordinated assault on Nigeria?s democracy, the organisation said it amounted to a calculated attack on political pluralism and a betrayal of voters? mandate.

Addressing a press conference on the State of the Nation, Executive Director of CHRICED, Dr. Ibrahim Zikirullahi, said widespread allegations that some of the defections were influenced by financial inducements signal complicity, not neutrality.

He noted that democracy cannot thrive in an atmosphere where corruption is normalised.

Zikirullahi also expressed concern over the silence of the National Assembly leadership over reports that lawmakers allegedly pay between N1 million and N3 million to present motions or bills in the National Assembly.

According to him, Senator Ali Ndume?s recent claim that aides in the Presidential Villa demand bribes before granting access to President Bola Tinubu further deepens concerns about transparency at the highest level of government.

The organisation equally faulted what it termed the government?s ?borrow-and-spend? economic strategy, noting that continued borrowing despite claims of meeting the 2025 IGR targets has worsened poverty and undermined long-term stability.

Zikirullahi argued that Nigeria?s economic woes require investments in job creation, local industries, and youth empowerment, not mounting debts.

He said: ?Despite official claims of Naira stabilisation and a drop in inflation to 18.02 per cent, these macroeconomic indicators have brought little or no relief to the average Nigerian.

?Millions of citizens continue to grapple with deepening poverty, rising food prices, and economic despair. The removal of fuel subsidies, hikes in electricity tariffs, and the imposition of multiple layers of taxation have pushed countless families to the brink of survival.

?Rather than articulating and implementing a coherent, people-centred economic recovery plan, the federal government continues to borrow recklessly?both domestically and internationally?mortgaging the future of generations yet unborn. CHRICED calls on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to halt this unsustainable borrowing trajectory.?

On insecurity, Zikirullahi observed that Nigerians now live under constant threat from bandits, kidnappers, and terrorists, citing last week?s abduction of six directors of the Ministry of Defence in Kogi State as evidence of the state?s inability to guarantee safety.

The group also criticised the state of the health sector, noting that only 36 per cent of the 2024 capital allocation for health had been released despite the ongoing strike by doctors and severe gaps in access to care.

While highlighting CHRICED?s achievements in supporting the implementation of the Free Maternal and Child Healthcare (FMCH) Law in Kano, the group reiterated its demand for justice for indigenous FCT communities, who it said have suffered decades of dispossession.

Zikirullahi urged Nigerians, civil society actors, journalists, traditional rulers, and religious leaders to resist apathy and demand accountability from those in power. (The Guardian)

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