From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has said that President Bola allegedly has no plan to strengthen democracy in the country, noting that there is alleged plan by the present administration to make the 2027 general election “a combat and a fight.”
Atiku, in a statement by his media aide, Paul Ibe, yesterday, berated the government for impugning on the credibility of political leaders, who participated in a summit, last week, in Abuja, to discuss how to advance democracy in the county.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who was reacting to tweets by the Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Pubic Communication, Sunday Dare, on X, said the aide’s posts mirrors what to expect from the government in the days ahead.
The statement read: “Late in the evening of Saturday, 2 February, the Special Adviser on Public Communication and one of President Tinubu’s Spokespersons, Mr. Sunday Dare posted two comments on his verified X handle.
“The first post made a case for countries to tighten their belts on the heels of the announcement from President Trump’s administration to impose tariffs in line with his America First agenda, and the other post which came much later the same night tried to discredit the actions of political leaders in strengthening democracy and good governance in Nigeria.
“The second post is a lame attempt to impugn the credibility of political leaders who seek a better direction for Nigeria, and, in so doing, Dare painted a picture of what is to be expected in how the Tinubu administration plans to take the next election in the country as ‘a combat and a fight’ or better still the deepening of their notorious ‘snatch and grab’ agenda.
“It therefore becomes pertinent to tell the Tinubu administration that last week’s gathering of political leaders across the country is aimed at fostering the ethos of democracy in Nigeria; making sure that elections in Nigeria are credible and that democracy is the vehicle for progress and social justice in the country.”
It added: “We find it curious that the Tinubu government would react to these noble ideals as ‘Machiavellian inclinations.’ If the Tinubu administration could describe opposition in a democracy in the language of the era of Dark Ages, we find such behaviour as unbecoming and a stark attack on the collective impression of our hard-won democracy and the fundamental human rights that it guarantees.
“The other post by Dare speaks to the ‘Tariff War’ – by which the Tinubu administration seeks to interpret President Trump’s America First approach to international trade.
“First of all, we condemn the careless remarks by the Spokesperson of President Tinubu on an issue that potentially affects Nigeria’s relations with the U.S. and other countries, including partner institutions in international trade. That aside, it is a contradiction in terms that the Tinubu administration, which came into power on the philosophy of self-right to rule, will mock Nigerians on matters of patriotism.
“We urge the Tinubu administration to practice what it preaches by embracing the Nigeria First ideals in replacement to the self-entitled and other primordial sentiments it panders to. Nigeria has gone through all kinds of class, ethnic and religious divisions since the advent of the Tinubu administration.
“This is the first government in the history of Nigeria that will put Nigerians on Band A or Band C on the cadre of access to social infrastructure. We therefore urge the Tinubu government to unite and heal the nation and desist from making careless remarks about other countries or the patriotism of the Nigerian people.”
