The Nigerian Presidency has slammed a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar over his remark that the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu is worse than military dictatorship. It’s wrong for the former vice president to make such remark when he’s enjoying democratic freedom under the administration, which is not available under the military regime.
The Special Adviser to the President, Media and Communications, Sunday Dare made the assertion on his verified X page on Wednesday in response to Abubabar, who on Tuesday during a book presentation in Abuja, the nation’s capital berated the All Progressives Congress, APC administration of President Tinubu for adopting a military-styled leadership in the country.
The book “The Loyalist” is authored by Bolaji Abdullahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress, ADC.
“Not even the military dictatorships before 1999 damaged our national life and consciousness in the way this administration has done,” Abubakar noted, urging the ADC “to rescue the country from what I consider the worst administration I have witnessed in nearly four decades of political life.”
Slamming the former vice president for the remark, the presidential spokesman said Abubakar was trying to distort history by comparing the Tinubu’s administration with the military era when many Nigerians were “ jailed, exiled, or killed under decrees and firing squads.”
Dare warned Abubakar to stop insulting the memory of Nigerians describing the ‘dictatorship” remark as absurd, saying the former vice president is angry because he has failed to rule the country after failing to win the presidential election four times, adding that it’s abnormal for the former number two citizen of the country to compare a democratic government with a military regime.
Dare’s Post read: “For a man who once occupied the office of Vice President under a constitutional democracy, Atiku Abubakar’s persistent inability—or refusal—to distinguish between democratic governance and military dictatorship is no longer ironic; it is alarming. His claim at the ADC event that Nigeria under Bola Ahmed Tinubu is worse than military rule was not a gaffe but a willful distortion of history and further slide into senile dementia. It insults the memory of Nigerians jailed, exiled, or killed under decrees and firing squads so that men like Atiku could enjoy today’s freedoms. To sanitize that era simply because he is now a serial electoral loser reveals a conscience corroded by desperation.
“The absurdity of Atiku’s ‘dictatorship’ narrative collapses under minimal scrutiny. In the same republic he brands tyrannical, he moves freely, convenes political meetings at will, grants interviews, and attacks the President daily—under full constitutional protection. These are liberties military regimes extinguished without hesitation. For Atiku to sit comfortably in Abuja, shielded by democratic rights, while romanticizing the “efficiency” of military rule is not dissent; it is cognitive dissonance bordering on historical vandalism.
“This is not a one-off lapse but a chronic condition. Atiku has perfected post-election grievance, recasting himself every four years as the chief mourner of his own defeats. He conveniently forgets the era when dissent meant exile or death—perhaps because he was insulated by elite privilege. By equating the economic adjustments of the Renewed Hope reforms with military repression, he exposes the truth: his only ideology is unfulfilled ambition. If he cannot rule, he would rather delegitimize the democracy that rejected him.
“One must ask whether the Waziri of Adamawa believes his own rhetoric or if this is the flailing of a man watching his relevance evaporate. To argue that a ballot-produced government is worse than one imposed by bullets is reckless and corrosive. It insults the legacy of June 12 and flirts dangerously with democratic sabotage. His constant cries of “tyranny,” even as he shops endlessly for new party platforms, only highlight his terminal hypocrisy—devotion to democratic benefits, contempt for democratic outcomes.”
The presidential aide urged Abubakar to start behaving as a statesman when making comments on the state of the nation, instead of inflammatory remarks capable of causing chaos in the country.
“At this stage, Atiku Abubakar is less an elder statesman than a cautionary tale. Having exhausted ideas and credibility, he has descended into inflammatory exaggeration, hoping chaos might succeed where voters have repeatedly said no. If he truly longs for the “order” of military rule, he should explain why he spent decades masquerading as a democrat. Nigeria has moved on. His cognitive dissonance is no longer a national issue—it is a personal implosion unfolding in public.”
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