Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has described 2025 as “one of the most punishing years in our recent history,” accusing President Bola Tinubu’s administration of economic mismanagement, political recklessness, and governance without empathy.

In a New Year message posted on his official X handle on Thursday, Atiku said Nigerians endured “economic suffocation” under the All Progressives Congress (APC) government, adding that the year exposed what he called the “incompetence and policy bankruptcy” of the Tinubu administration.

“For millions of long-suffering Nigerians, the only consolation is that 2025… has come to an end,” Atiku said. “It was a year defined by economic suffocation, political recklessness, and governance without empathy under the All Progressives Congress administration.”

He alleged that the government operated “for months without a functional budget,” relying on propaganda while “borrowing recklessly,” a situation he said pushed Nigeria “to the brink of economic collapse.”

According to Atiku, “Nothing better captures the decay of this government than the scandal of a forged tax law, shamelessly branded a ‘reform,’” adding that the President’s refusal to allow due legislative and legal processes to address what he described as “clearly a criminal act” was deeply troubling.

“A government that begins reform with forgery cannot end with prosperity,” he stated.

The former Vice President also accused the APC of deliberately weakening Nigeria’s democracy in 2025, alleging that the ruling party worked “systematically to deform our multiparty democracy into a de facto one-party state through coercion, intimidation, and state capture.”

He further claimed that while the government “drowned the nation in debt,” it falsely claimed to have met its revenue targets, even as insecurity worsened across the country.

“Kidnappings, abductions, and violent crimes surged, affecting citizens, young and old alike,” Atiku said. “Lives were lost, livelihoods destroyed, and communities terrorized, while government assurances rang hollow.”

On the economy, Atiku said unemployment, labour unrest, and the collapse of small businesses defined the year, noting that “industries shut down,” “workers were sent home,” and “hunger spread.”

Despite these challenges, he said Nigeria survived “not because of government competence, but because of the resilience of its people.”

Atiku described the message as “one of the most painful New Year messages I have ever written,” citing what he called the “callous and soulless policies” of the Tinubu-led government.

“Sacrifice is patriotic—but it becomes cruel when demanded by leaders who live extravagantly,” he said, adding that “leadership without shared pain is not leadership; it is exploitation.”

He warned that “a government capable of forging or tampering with laws cannot be trusted to conduct free and fair elections in 2027,” while urging Nigerians not to surrender to despair but to seek change “peacefully and decisively, through the ballot.”

Atiku also described the administration’s anti-corruption drive as “a facade; selective, vindictive, and politically motivated,” urging Nigerians to reject division along religious or ethnic lines and embrace unity as “the path to rescue.” (Channels)

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