THURSDAY April 17, 2025 |
By thenewsdesk.ng
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, asked President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on his own ‘disastrous’ presidency, saying Nigeria was already in full blown state of emergency, even without official proclamation.
Atiku, who claimed the coalition train of political parties to unseat the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027, had already taken off, also met with party delegations from Nasarawa and other leaders from other places.
This was as a former National Vice Chairman North-West of APC, Dr. Salihu Lukman, has said the coalition of political parties was an agenda to revive the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a counterforce to the coalition, and present a candidate that would split the votes in 2027.
According to a statement by Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibeh, on April 2, 2025, President Bola Tinubu flew out to France, stating that ‘’Had this absurd announcement come just a day earlier, Nigerians would have dismissed it as an April Fool’s joke.
He added: “But sadly, it’s no prank — just another insult to a nation pushed to the brink by a presidency that treats its citizens like fools. The official excuse? A so-called ‘working visit.’But Nigerians aren’t buying the spin.
“The presidency scrambled to clarify that it wasn’t a medical trip — how noble. But even if it’s not medical tourism, what justification is there for gallivanting across Europe while Nigeria bleeds? ‘What kind of leader borrows billions only to blow scarce funds on vanity trips abroad? It’s not just irresponsible— it’s contemptuous.
‘’Let the facts speak for themselves. By the time Tinubu struts back from this latest escapade, he will have racked up a staggering 59 days in France since assuming office. ‘See Paris and die?’ No — see Paris and abandon your country.
‘’While Tinubu dines under chandeliers in the land of good governance, the country he governs is spiraling into chaos. Plateau has turned into a killing field — over 100 lives lost in relentless attacks. Benue is bleeding. Boko Haram is seizing territory. And every single day, Nigerians sink deeper into poverty, insecurity, and despair.
‘’This isn’t just negligence. It’s dereliction of duty on a catastrophic scale. If Tinubu had even a shred of empathy, he would cut his trip short and return immediately. A leader with an ounce of patriotism wouldn’t need to be begged to show up in times of crisis. The constitution says the security and welfare of the people is the primary purpose of government. But under Tinubu, that sacred duty has been trashed,” Atiku argued.
According to him, there is absolutely nothing Tinubu is doing in France that he couldn’t do in Lagos, or even in Iragbiji, explaining that the so-called ‘working visit’ is nothing more than a vacation cloaked in official jargon.
‘’Nigeria is in a full-blown state of emergency. Not a contrived political emergency like what Tinubu declared in Rivers for partisan gain — this is a national collapse. So when, exactly, will Tinubu declare a state of emergency on his own disastrous presidency?’’
Atiku, who said the coalition train had left station despite the position of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, who disassociated from it, however, met delegations from Nasarawa state and others, in continuation of his consultation for coalition.
According to Atiku on his verified X space: ‘’Yesterday, I met with a delegation of two groups, during which I briefed them about the status of the pan-Nigerian coalition that I am building in conjunction with other leaders and stakeholders across political divides and regions.
‘’I informed them that the Nigerian Movement is being powered by Nigerians desirous of reclaiming and rebuilding their country from across the nooks and crannies of our country. Indeed, the Coalition Train has left the station and would have multiple stops to bring on board Nigerians of all shades.
‘’First was the meeting with a delegation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Nasarawa State, led by Alhaji Jibirin Sabo Keana. The second was a delegation of National Opinion leaders, led by Hon. Yusuf Sheriff Banki.’’
But Lukman, in his position, said the refusal of the PDP Governors’ Forum to join the initiative to form a broad-based coalition of opposition political parties, showed they were undercover supporters of the ruling party.
In a statement, Lukman said for more than ten years, the PDP had been out of power, Nigerians had waited for the party to dust itself up and provide the viable opposition that Nigeria needs.
Lukman noted that the governors knew that the virus that afflicted the PDP had no cure, saying they were only grandstanding. He stressed that it made no sense to invest energy and resources in a party whose leaders were neither appointees of the APC government nor undercover supporters.
Instead, he said the party went into suspended animation until the rampaging Tinubu-lead APC found a willing undertaker to finally put it to rest.
He emphasised that the PDP governors knew that Nigerians could not accept this current PDP as the alternative because it was clear to all discerning Nigerians that the ruling party had hijacked its soul.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, on Wednesday called on President Bola Tinubu to suspend his ‘working visit’ to France and urgently return to Nigeria to address the deteriorating security situation, particularly in Plateau and Benue States.
In a post shared via his official X handle on Wednesday, the 63-year-old politician criticised the president’s absence amid worsening violence and insecurity across the country.
“Mr President, domestic problems beckon. I am compelled at this time in our lives as a nation to call on our retreating president’s attention to the security challenges at home, which entail that he immediately suspends his ongoing retreat in a foreign land and come home to address the overwhelming security situation across the country,” Obi wrote.
The former Anambra state governor lamented that over 150 Nigerians had been killed in the past two weeks, citing renewed attacks in Plateau and Zamfara States, while pipeline explosions in the Niger Delta further highlighted the country’s dire state.
“In the two weeks you have been away, over 150 Nigerians have lost their lives to insecurity across Nigeria, especially in Plateau and Zamfara states.
“The primary duty of any government is securing the lives and property of its citizens, and one wonders the type of retreat going on in another country where peace has been secured by their leaders, while blood continues to flow in our country,” he argued.
Obi said the nation was in distress and likened the president to a retreating chief executive, far from the headquarters of his failing company. He urged the president to take swift and decisive action.
“Amid all these, the CEO of the troubled company called Nigeria, is retreating in a faraway land in France, detached from the company’s headquarters.
“I therefore urge Mr. President to quickly suspend whatever he is doing in France and rush home to take responsibility by addressing these disturbing issues. That is the new Nigeria the nation seeks,” he added.
Obi had earlier visited victims and families affected by recent attacks in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State. He condemned the violence, describing the killings as “senseless” and unacceptable in a nation not officially at war.
But in a riposte, a staunch Tinubu supporter and former presidential spokesman, Reno Omokri, flayed Obi for blaming the then Governor Nasir el-Rufai for the Southern Kaduna ‘genocide’ that occurred under his watch, but is now attacking and criticising Tinubu instead of the chief security officer of Plateau state.
“Do not take out the embarrassment of being banned from Benue on President Tinubu. Nigeria has a hierarchical governance structure. The vice president is in Nigeria, and the government is functioning optimally.
“Moreover, immediately after the Plateau incident, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, was there, and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) was also there yesterday. This is a marked difference from the Muhammadu Buhari era,” he argued.
According to Omokri, after 73 people were killed by herdsmen in Benue during the Yuletide of 2017, Buhari ordered his Inspector of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to relocate to Benue to fish out the killers and end the killings, noting that the order was never obeyed.
“When you contrast that with what has occurred under President Tinubu, you see a responsive government this time around. Peter, enough is enough,” Omokri added.
