I have just read the communique released by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) under the leadership of His Grace Archbishop Daniel Okoh from the 2026 National Church Leaders Summit and I align with the concern and sympathies of the Church in Nigeria over the security of the lives of Nigerians.
The demand for a comprehensive review of the nation’s security architecture, enhanced intelligence gathering, stronger inter-agency cooperation, improved operational effectiveness and greater accountability in the fight against terrorism, banditry and violent crime, are all fully in line with my position on the failure of the Tinubu-led Federal Government.
It is encouraging for Nigerians to see Christians from various denominations and blocs unite in this spiritual wake-up call upon the political leadership to do better. From the Catholic Secretariat to the Christian Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (CPFN), the Organisation of African Instituted Churches to the TEKAN/ECWA and other Christian blocs in Nigeria, the declaration of a three-day period of national mourning should serve as moments of reflection for all political leaders, especially those in power with the responsibility to do better by Nigerians.
As insecurity ravages without concern for religious or ethnic differences which have been made more glaring by the 360 degrees failure of the incumbent government, I commend this noble effort to hold the ruling party accountable and encourage solidarity from all Nigerians in this regard. I enjoin other faith organisations especially of the Muslim block to lend their voices to this wake-up call.
On behalf of the political opposition whom Tinubu has ignored as well as the Nigerian people, I urge Tinubu to listen to this urgent call from CAN and diligently ponder his courses of action beyond rhetorics, at least for his remaining months in office. -AA
https://t.co/kl07WD6OkT
My family and I extend our warmest birthday wishes to Sen. Ehigie Uzamere as he marks another year today.
We celebrate your life, your contributions, and your enduring commitment to service. May the years ahead be filled with good health, renewed strength, peace, and abundant blessings. Happy Birthday, and many happy returns. -AA
Earlier today, I visited my brother and fellow aspirant in the @ADCNig presidential primaries, Alhaji Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, @Mohayatudeen, at his residence in Lagos. Our discussions on the state of our nation and party were frank and productive. We resolved to work together in the challenging task of reclaiming and rebuilding our beloved country for the greater good of our people. -AA
It's been three years since you bid us farewell. But your memories continue to be a blessing. You are unforgettable, my brother and friend, Chief Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi. Continue to rest, Ezomo. -AA
This afternoon, I visited my brother and compatriot, former Governor of Rivers State and ex-Minister of Transportation, Chief Rotimi Amaechi, at his Abuja residence.
Beyond the warmth and camaraderie, we had deep and honest conversations about the troubling state of our nation, the growing economic pain, insecurity, and the urgent responsibility on patriotic Nigerians to continue engaging in the search for solutions that can rescue our country from drift and despair.
I also felicitated with him on the occasion of his birthday yesterday and teased that Arsenal’s historic triumph could not have arrived at a better time. Chief Amaechi, a thoroughly well-loaded Gunner, took the banter in very good spirits.
In true Rivers hospitality, he apologised for not having enough time to prepare Fisherman Soup, a delicacy I have now been promised on our return for the second leg 😃. -AA
The government promised improved welfare for our people with the removal of fuel subsidy. Needless to say, the savings from subsidy removal has not been accounted for and the economic hardship resulting from the action has been unbearable. To make matters worse, borrowing has become the cornerstone of the economic policy of the APC government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. External borrowing alone has reached 30 billion dollars in the last three years. And the massive amounts being borrowed are given away in contracts to friends and cronies of those in government without competitive bidding and with no pretensions of due process. The future of our younger generation is being mortgaged with no accountability. That has to change and will change under an ADC government.
Healthcare
In the face of glaring healthcare challenges facing the country, we learned recently that the Federal Ministry of Health received only 30 million naira for capital expenditure in the preceding fiscal year. This is clearly a government that doesn’t care about the health of our people. Our ADC government will prioritise healthcare, with emphasis on prevention. Therefore, we will make massive investments in primary healthcare. In addition, we shall properly equip and staff our medical centres of excellence to ensure that our people receive the best specialist care here in Nigeria rather than travel abroad for same. We shall establish more such centres where needed and also incentivise the private sector to establish world class medical facilities across the country to meet the needs of our people.
In the coming weeks and months, we shall be rolling out our platform addressing these priorities and other issues in more details and with clear timelines.
Fellow citizens, where the APC government offers meaningless renewed hope, we will provide renewed action to repair the damage that they have done to our economy and society in the last twelve years of misrule.
My dear friends, we have gone through great challenges to build this coalition. Let us now turn our energies to continuing to build this party as we prepare for the campaign to win the elections and to rescue this country from the current misrule. We have a sacred responsibility to build a party that will stand as a great institution not only in Nigeria but as a great example to the world.
I, therefore, appeal to all those who feel aggrieved to come back to our party and close ranks with the rest of us. I appeal to all those who contested for various positions in our primaries to close ranks with us. In particular, I invite Chief Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Alhaji Mohammed Hayatu-Deen to join me in this fight to save our democracy and our country. As I said previously, there are no winners and no losers. Our people look up to us for leadership. I am ready to lead. I shall work with you all to continue to build our party. I will campaign with you and, if Nigerians give us the mandate, govern with you to build a country that works for all.
Thank you and may God bless you and bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. -AA
I wish to express my profound appreciation for the privilege, which you have bestowed on me, of leading our great party, the African Democratic Congress, into the next elections as its Presidential Candidate. I am truly humbled and excited by this singular honour.
We demonstrated that while democracy is being strangled and squashed by the ruling party and its oppressive and anti-democratic government, democracy is alive and well in the African Democratic Congress. In our party, members are allowed to express their views, to have ambitions and to contest for elective positions in a free, fair and transparent process.
Our great party is a coalition built through hard work, immense sacrifices and compromises, guided by our determination to rescue our country’s democracy which is facing its greatest threat since the return to democratic rule in 1999.
As I speak, virtually all opposition political parties in the country have leadership crisis engineered by the APC government, the INEC and elements in the judiciary. And opposition figures continue to be harassed and intimidated, including those languishing in detention, such as Mallam Nasir El-Rufai who distinguished himself as a public servant, including as a Minister and two-term Governor of Kaduna State. He has been in detention for three months despite court orders granting him bail. He has been denied the right to celebrate two important religious holidays with his family in addition to being denied the opportunity to be by his mother’s side as she took her last breath. All because he is a leading opposition figure! This kind of cruelty must stop. The government continues to harass, intimidate and coerce opposition politicians to join the APC using the security agencies as well as the agencies which were set up by a previous government to fight corruption. Under this government, once a person joins the APC, the harassment ceases and the charges against them magically disappear. This abuse of power must stop.
Great care was taken to ensure that due diligence was done in the process of forming this coalition. Yet the government and the INEC continue to undermine it, even trying to deregister it. Let me warn that any further attempt to interfere in the affairs of the party by the Presidency, INEC and judiciary will be fiercely resisted. Enough is enough.
I congratulate my fellow contestants for this ticket to represent our great party in the elections scheduled for early next year. I know that you are driven by your patriotism and commitment to a better Nigeria and improved life for our people. I know that, like me, you are deeply concerned about the rapid descent of our country into economic disaster, catastrophic insecurity, extreme nepotism, political intolerance and the drive towards a one-party state by the current government and its party. I thank you for your healthy participation in this democratic process.
I must state at this juncture that this is not the time to celebrate. No one was defeated because we are one party and we all need to recognise the fierce urgency of the moment. Therefore, we have to unite, as we pledged before this process, to work to pull our country and our people out of the destructive grip of a corrupt, incompetent and polarising APC government.
I thank the primary elections Committee for organising peaceful, free, fair and transparent primaries. I thank the various leadership organs of our party, the various stakeholders, and volunteers for their hard work and dedication and all our party members and supporters for their efforts, patience and conduct during the process.
With the primaries behind us, the real hard work is about to begin. We have to prepare to campaign hard to win the next general elections in order to begin the difficult process of rescuing our country and its long-suffering people from this government.
We will be guided by clear national plans with set targets and timelines in line with commitments enshrined in our party’s manifesto. We will provide clear leadership that will empower our states to competitively attain the potentials of meeting the expectations of citizens. That will include working with them to guarantee well-outlined minimum standards of welfare provision in line with international best standards. Ours will be a new era of accountable leadership.
We shall prioritise Security, Education, the Economy, Healthcare and the challenge of power- sharing among the constituent units of our country.
Security
Every region of this country is gripped by insecurity, the worst kind in our history. Our people are being slaughtered in large numbers and the government has failed to take decisive and effective action to stop it and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The most disturbing is that members of our security forces, including military generals, are being slaughtered wantonly in a manner that can only be embarrassing to our military, which fought to keep the country together and is highly respected in various parts of the world where they distinguished themselves in international assignments. All we have been getting from the government is silence and, on occasion, expression of condolence and empty promises to deal with the murderers.
An ADC government under my leadership will take decisive action to address insecurity and protect lives and property in the country. We shall strengthen the armed forces, the police and other security agencies with massive new recruitment, provision of modern and adequate equipment, training, improved welfare and effective leadership. We shall also ensure accountability and proper coordination and intelligence sharing among all our security agencies.
It is obvious to us in the ADC that we can only secure our country long-term if we educate our young people and create an economy in which they and their families can thrive and help to change Nigeria and the world for the better.
Education
Under the watch of this APC government over 20 million of our school-age children are not in school. This cannot be tolerated in the modern world where education is the surest path to descent employment, wealth creation, national development and enlightened citizenry. We will, therefore, implement free and compulsory education at the primary and secondary levels and invest in leadership, entrepreneurial, technological and innovation skills amongst our teeming youth.
We shall embark on a holistic revival of our educational system by ensuring that staffing, buildings and all infrastructures are in place to make Nigerian youths competitive again. And the welfare of teachers will reflect their critical importance in nurturing the young.
Economy
This APC government has failed woefully on the economy. The poverty gripping our people is at a level that we have never seen in our history. The government brandishes statistics claiming that the economy is growing. But what has really been growing is the ill-gotten wealth of a few in and around the corridors of power while our people have extreme difficulty finding food to eat, paying for transport, medical treatment or their children’s school fees.
We commit to building an economy that benefits all Nigerians. Building an economy that works for Nigerians can only gather momentum when we address our utterly embarrassing and economy-destroying energy crisis. The provision of electricity is a minimum requirement for industrialization, be it in the factory or in the farm, for big business and for small enterprises. We shall remove the various bottlenecks limiting investments in various sectors of our economy in order to attract local and foreign investments that would create jobs and create meaningful growth in our economy. And we shall provide incentives where necessary to promote investment and job creation.
I joined fellow Muslims this morning at the AYA Mosque in Abuja to observe the Eid prayers in gratitude to Allah for His countless blessings.
As we celebrate this sacred occasion, may the spirit of Eid strengthen our bonds of unity, compassion, sacrifice, and peace as one people and one nation.
Eid Mubarak to all Muslim faithful across Nigeria and around the world. May Allah accept our prayers and grant lasting peace and prosperity to our nation. -AA
The celebration of Eid-el-Kabir today is a remarkable moment as it calls our conscience to the worship of God and in having absolute faith in His divine authority as the only source of hope in the current situation that Nigeria is passing through.
In Nigeria today, leadership has become a status symbol. Leaders seem distant from the responsibilities that lie on their shoulders. The occasion of this celebration is to specifically call the conscience of leaders to their duties to always ensure that the interests of the people remain paramount in their obligations.
I pray that the spirit of sacrifice, faith, and compassion exemplified by the Eid festival will inspire all Nigerians towards national renewal and purposeful leadership. -AA
Happy Birthday to my brother and fellow patriot, H.E. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, @ChibuikeAmaechi.
Your courage, conviction, and years of service to Rivers State and Nigeria continue to inspire many across the nation. I wish you good health, strength, and many more years of impactful service to our dear country. -AA
Today, I celebrate my friend and compatriot, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, @raufaregbesola, as he marks his 69th birthday.
Your years of service to our nation, your steadfast commitment to progressive ideals, and your dedication to strengthening democratic values continue to inspire many across Nigeria.
As National Secretary of the ADC, your experience, courage, and sense of duty remain invaluable at this critical moment in our nation’s history. I wish you continued good health, wisdom, and strength in the years ahead.
Happy Birthday, Ogbeni. -AA
I joined other prospective voters of the African Democratic Congress in our party's presidential primaries in casting my vote at the Ajiya Ward Polling Unit in Jimeta Yola, Adamawa State. This is democracy at work. The election taking place simultaneously in 8,809 Wards in Nigeria is a major step in our quest to recover our beloved country and set it on the path of prosperity. -AA
I have concluded the screening exercise for ADC presidential aspirants at the Transcorp Hotel, Abuja, ahead of the forthcoming 2027 general elections. Together, the journey to rescue our country continues. -AA
Congratulations to Arsenal on a well-deserved Premier League victory. This title is a testament to resilience, discipline, teamwork, and the courage to keep believing even when the odds seemed difficult. As a proud supporter, tonight is special. Well done to the players, the manager, and the incredible fans who never stopped believing. North London is red again. -AA #EPL
The march to restore prosperity and better days to our beloved nation took a firm and decisive step forward today at the National Secretariat of our great party, the African Democratic Congress.
This is more than a political journey; it is a national movement rooted in hope, renewal, and the collective resolve to save Nigeria from despair. I call on all Nigerians, regardless of region, faith, or background, to join us in this noble cause. Together, we will restore the promise of our nation and bring good times back again. -AA
PRESS RELEASE
@atiku Sets Agenda for Proposed US Visit
Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has declared that his forthcoming engagement with policy and institutional stakeholders in the United States will be driven by one overriding concern: the alarming deterioration of security, governance, and economic stability in Nigeria.
Atiku states plainly that Nigeria is facing a full-blown internal crisis, one that can no longer be downplayed, politicized, or explained away. From the ravaging violence in the North-West and North-East, to the persistent bloodshed in the Middle Belt, and the growing spread of kidnapping and criminality across the country, Atiku warns that the Nigerian state is steadily losing its grip on its most fundamental responsibility: the protection of lives and property.
According to him, the situation has moved beyond isolated incidents to a pattern of systemic failure. Communities are being overrun, livelihoods destroyed, and citizens abandoned to their fate. He argues that any government that cannot guarantee basic security forfeits the moral basis of its mandate.
The former Vice President also points to the deepening economic hardship confronting Nigerians, describing it as both severe and avoidable. He notes that rising inflation, a weakened currency, and collapsing purchasing power have pushed millions into distress, while policy inconsistency and lack of strategic direction continue to erode confidence in the economy. In his words, Nigerians are not just tired, they are being stretched to the limits of endurance.
Atiku further raises concerns about the state of Nigeria’s democratic institutions, warning that declining public confidence in governance, accountability, and the electoral process poses a direct threat to national stability.
As the country moves toward another election cycle, he insists that any attempt to undermine transparency or manipulate outcomes will carry serious consequences for both unity and legitimacy.
Addressing the anticipated criticism of his international engagement, Atiku is unequivocal: telling the truth about Nigeria is not unpatriotic. He rejects the notion that engaging global partners amounts to inviting foreign interference, stressing that Nigeria does not exist in isolation and cannot pretend that its internal failures have no external implications. He maintains that the world already sees what is happening; the real question is whether Nigerian leaders are prepared to confront it honestly.
He reiterates that only Nigerians will decide Nigeria’s leadership, but insists that international partners have a legitimate interest in the stability, governance standards, and democratic health of a country as strategically important as Nigeria.
According to him, responsible leadership does not hide from scrutiny, it welcomes it as a pathway to improvement.
In a direct message to the current administration, Atiku warns against complacency and deflection. He states that power is not an entitlement but a responsibility, and that Nigerians expect results, not explanations. He calls on the government to urgently reset its priorities, restore public confidence, and demonstrate a clear, credible strategy for addressing insecurity and economic decline.
To Nigerians, he delivers a blunt reminder: no nation survives in silence. He urges citizens to remain vigilant, engaged, and unyielding in their demand for accountability, emphasizing that real change will not come from outside the country but from the collective will of its people.
Atiku concludes that Nigeria stands at a critical juncture. The choice, he says, is between confronting hard truths now or allowing the country to drift further into instability. For him, the moment demands courage, honesty, and decisive leadership, anything less would be a disservice to the nation and its future.
Signed:
Paul Ibe
Media Adviser to Atiku Abubakar
Vice President of Nigeria, 1999-2007
Abuja
03 May, 2026.
A Missed Opportunity for Transformation.
During the 2023 presidential campaign, I presented Nigerians with an alternative vision. Our manifesto proposed a $10 billion economic stimulus programme, a bold, people-centred intervention that would have used the savings from subsidy removal to directly transform the lives of Nigerians. This plan was designed to create millions of jobs across agriculture, manufacturing, technology, and infrastructure. It would have lifted millions out of poverty, provided targeted support to the most vulnerable, and ignited the kind of economic activity that grows the tax base organically.
A stimulus of that scale, properly implemented, would have generated far more revenue for government than any tax increase ever could, because it would have been earned from a growing, productive economy rather than extracted from an impoverished, shrinking one. It would have meant that the pain of subsidy removal was temporary, giving way to a period of genuine renewal, renewal of opportunity, of employment, of hope. Instead, Nigerians were given a coastal highway awarded without due process to a presidential buddy. The contrast between these two visions, one centred on the people, one centred on self, could not be starker.
A Message to Nigerian Workers.
On this Workers' Day, I want to speak directly to the men and women who wake up every morning and go to work in spite of everything: the civil servants who have not received their full entitlements, the traders whose goods no one can afford to buy, the factory workers whose employers are closing shop, the teachers and medical personnel holding together systems that government is failing to adequately fund. You are not invisible. Your suffering is not a statistic. It is real, it is documented, and it is a direct consequence of a trial-and-error policy choices made by those entrusted with the responsibility to serve you.
Nigeria's working people did not cause this crisis. They did not vote for impoverishment. They voted for hope, and that hope was taken from them. They deserve leadership that spends the nation's resources on their welfare, not on opaque mega-projects that serve the well-connected. They deserve a government that measures its success by their living standards, not by the size of its spending, the growth of its debt, or the breadth of its patronage networks. Nigeria can and must do better. The resources exist. The talent exists. What is lacking is the will to govern for all Nigerians rather than for the few.
A Call for Real Renewal.
Nigeria can, and must do better. The resources exist. The talents abound. What is lacking is the will to govern for all, not just for a privileged few.
On this Workers' Day, I reaffirm my commitment to building a Nigeria where the dignity of labour is matched by its reward m, where hard work pays, where honesty is protected, and where government truly serves the people.
The Nigerian worker deserves genuine renewal, not the Orwellian version. A renewal that is tangible, measurable and real. Not as a slogan. But as a lived reality. -AA
#WorkersDay2026: Broken Promises, Shattered Hopes: The Nigerian Worker's Burden Under the Tinubu Administration.
Every first day of May, nations across the world pause to honour the dignity of labour and the men and women whose sweat and toil sustain civilisation. In Nigeria, Workers' Day has always carried a particular poignancy, a moment to celebrate the resilience of a workforce that endures much and receives little.
But as we mark this year's commemoration, I write not with celebration in my heart, but with grief. Grief for the Nigerian worker who was promised renewed hope and received instead renewed hardship.
A Slogan Betrayed.
"Renewed Hope" - those two words carried the dreams of millions of Nigerians who trooped to the polls in 2023. They were words that promised a departure from the suffering of previous years; a promise that the government would finally work for the people. Today, as we assess nearly three years of the Tinubu administration, it is painfully clear that what was renewed was not hope, but hardship. What was refreshed was not the fortunes of the Nigerian people, but the pockets of those in power.
The Nigerian worker, the teacher, the nurse, the factory hand, the civil servant, the artisan, has been the primary victim of an administration that, by all observable evidence, is far more interested in increasing the revenue at its disposal than in improving the lives of the citizens it governs.
Trillions Saved, But Nothing Felt.
The fuel subsidy removal was a necessary step, recklessly executed.
Let me be clear: the removal of the fuel subsidy was, in principle, a policy that many, including myself, had long advocated. The subsidy had become a fiscal haemorrhage that enriched cabal middlemen while denying the government of the resources needed for development. Its removal was necessary and overdue.
But the manner in which the Tinubu administration executed this policy was irresponsible and callous. On the day of inauguration, with no preparation, no safety nets, no cushioning mechanisms, and no transition plan for ordinary Nigerians, the President announced the end of the subsidy. The price of fuel skyrocketed. Transportation costs doubled and tripled overnight. The cost of food and basic goods hit the roof. The Nigerian worker, who was already struggling to survive on a salary eroded by years of inflation, was suddenly confronted with a cost of living that made mere survival feel like a luxury.
A responsible government would have spent the preceding months preparing Nigerians for this transition, establishing social safety nets, empowering the most vulnerable, and ensuring that the pain of reform was shared equitably. This administration did none of that. It simply removed the subsidy and left the Nigerian worker to drown.
Trillions were ostensibly saved, but nothing gained by the people. The fuel subsidy removal freed up enormous sums of money. Billions of dollars that had previously been committed to keeping pump prices artificially low were suddenly available. Nigerians, who had suffered the immediate consequences of the removal, were right to ask: Where has this saved money gone? What has been done with it to improve their lives? The answer is deeply troubling. Rather than being channelled into programmes that would directly benefit Nigerians, infrastructure that serves the people, healthcare, education, or an economic stimulus, these funds have been shared among the various tiers of government. The bulk of the federal government's share, disturbingly, appears to be financing the controversial $11 billion Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project. As desirable as this project was, it was not subjected to competitive bidding or due process. It was awarded to a company owned by a man that President Tinubu himself has publicly acknowledged as his business partner. This is not governance, it is the brazen conversion of public resources for private enrichment.
While the Nigerian worker pays more to transport themselves to and fro work, more to eat, more to keep their children in school, the administration is signing off on an $11 billion contract that bypassed every safeguard of transparency and accountability that should protect the public purse.
Currency Mismanagement and Economic Pain.
This administration's decision to float the nation’s currency has led to the free fall of the Naira and the ensuing erosion of purchasing power is compounding the misery of the fuel subsidy removal.
Again, exchange rate reform is a legitimate policy debate. But the manner in which it was done, abruptly, without a credible foreign exchange supply strategy, without the structural reforms needed to attract the inflows that would stabilise the currency, caused the Naira to enter a catastrophic free fall. The exchange rate, which was already under severe pressure, crashed to levels that had never before been seen in our national economic history.
For the Nigerian worker earning a salary denominated in Naira, this collapse was devastating. Whatever purchasing power had survived years of inflation was wiped out. Imported goods, including medicines, food items, and educational materials, became unaffordable. In fact some goods, especially medicines are no longer on the shelves. Businesses that relied on imported inputs shut down or drastically reduced their operations, leading to job losses. Workers who had spent decades building careers found themselves unable to provide for their families in any meaningful way.
Taxing the Impoverished.
Ironically, what has been showcased as tax reforms is indeed the taxing of the impoverished. As if the combined effects of fuel subsidy removal and naira devaluation were not punishment enough for the Nigerian worker, the Tinubu administration also set about reviewing the nation's tax laws, with the stated purpose of extracting more revenue from the citizenry. Increasing taxes during an economic crisis, when citizens are already struggling to survive, is not fiscal responsibility. It is an act of cruelty masquerading as policy. A government that truly serves its people grows the tax base by growing the economy, by creating the conditions for businesses to thrive, for jobs to multiply, for incomes to rise. When more people are employed and earning more, tax revenues naturally increase without placing an additional burden on those who are already struggling. The Tinubu administration has chosen the opposite approach: squeeze the people harder, regardless of their capacity to pay.
Borrowing More, Delivering Less.
Sadly, borrowing more, and delivering less has become the characteristics of the Tinubu-led APC administration.
What makes this administration's economic record even more alarming is that, alongside all the new revenues generated, from subsidy savings, from a floating exchange rate that boosted Naira receipts on dollar-denominated revenues, and from aggressive taxation, government borrowing has also increased dramatically. Nigeria's debt profile has worsened. And yet, for two consecutive years, the government has been unable to fully fund its own budget. Nigerians are owed a full and transparent account of where all this money has gone.
Increased revenues plus increased borrowing should translate into increased development. Instead, we see decaying infrastructure, underfunded public services, and a population sinking deeper into multidimensional poverty. The arithmetic simply does not add up, and that absence of accountability is an insult to every worker who pays taxes and every citizen and the generations unborn in whose names these loans are taken.