Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described 2025 as one of the most difficult years in Nigeria’s recent history, blaming widespread hardship on what he called poor governance, policy failures and lack of empathy by the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government.
In his New Year 2026 message to Nigerians, Atiku said millions of citizens endured “economic suffocation, political recklessness and governance without compassion,” adding that the outgoing year exposed what he termed the incompetence of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
According to the former Vice President, the Federal Government spent several months without a functional budget while relying on heavy borrowing and propaganda, a situation he said pushed the country to the brink of economic collapse.
Atiku also criticised the controversy surrounding a disputed tax law, describing it as a scandal that reflected the decay of governance, and faulted the President for allegedly failing to allow due legislative and legal processes to address the matter.
“A government that begins reform with forgery cannot end with prosperity,” he said.
He further accused the ruling party of deliberately weakening Nigeria’s democratic foundations, alleging that the APC worked to turn the country into a de facto one-party state through intimidation, coercion and state capture.
The former Vice President lamented the worsening state of insecurity across the country, noting that kidnappings, violent crimes and abductions increased during the year, leaving many communities terrorised while government assurances, according to him, proved ineffective.
He said unemployment, labour unrest, collapsing small businesses and the shutdown of industries defined the year, despite repeated claims by the government that the economy was recovering.
Atiku argued that Nigeria survived the challenges of 2025 not because of effective leadership, but due to the resilience of its people, whom he urged to remain steadfast despite the prevailing hardship.
He criticised calls by government officials for citizens to make sacrifices, describing such appeals as cruel when made by leaders who, he said, live lavishly and are insulated from the suffering of ordinary Nigerians.
“Leadership without shared pain is not leadership; it is exploitation,” Atiku said.
The former Vice President also questioned the credibility of the administration’s anti-corruption drive, describing it as selective and politically motivated, and accused agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of being used against opposition figures while allies were allegedly shielded.
He warned that any government capable of tampering with laws could not be trusted to conduct free and fair elections, expressing concern ahead of the 2027 general election.
Nevertheless, Atiku urged Nigerians not to surrender to despair, but to see the current hardship as a call to national awakening.
He appealed to citizens to reject ethnic and religious divisions, stressing that unity remained the strongest tool for change, and encouraged Nigerians to mobilise, organise and prepare to vote in 2027.
“Let us vote out hunger, insecurity, unemployment, dishonesty, corruption and lies,” he said, adding that 2026 should be a year of preparation, while 2027 would be the year of decision.
Atiku, who served as Vice President between 1999 and 2007, concluded that Nigeria deserved better leadership and called on citizens to peacefully reclaim the country through the ballot.
