, Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Bola Tinubu to impose a state){kind=link}
Former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Bola Tinubu to impose a state of emergency not on the nation, but on what he describes as his “disastrous presidency.”
According to a statement released by Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe, Nigeria is currently overwhelmed by a full-scale emergency, both in security and governance.
He pointed out that while President Tinubu is away in France, parts of the country, like Plateau and Benue States, are experiencing unrelenting bloodshed.
“Atiku says the president’s so-called ‘working visit’ is nothing more than a vacation dressed in official language,” the statement read.
It continued: “On April 2, 2025, Tinubu departed for France. If this trip had been announced just a day earlier, Nigerians would have thought it was an April Fool’s joke.
Unfortunately, this is not a prank it’s yet another slap in the face to a people already suffering from a presidency that seems to mock their pain.”
The statement ridiculed the presidency’s attempt to clarify the trip as non-medical. “Even if it’s not for health reasons, how does one justify roaming Europe while the nation bleeds?” it questioned.
“What sort of leader borrows billions only to waste public funds on luxurious overseas trips?”
Atiku further revealed that by the time the president returns, he would have spent 59 days in France since assuming office.
“See Paris and die? No. See Paris and abandon your country,” the statement mocked.
He painted a grim picture of the current state of Nigeria: “While Tinubu feasts under European chandeliers, Nigeria is unravelling.
“Plateau has turned into a slaughterhouse. Benue is in agony. Boko Haram is regaining ground. Millions of Nigerians are trapped in worsening poverty and fear.”
Atiku accused the president of gross neglect. “This is not merely poor leadership. It’s a catastrophic dereliction of duty,” he said, adding that a president with a modicum of empathy or patriotism would have rushed back home amid a crisis of this magnitude.
“There is absolutely nothing Tinubu is doing in France that he couldn’t have done from Lagos or even Iragbiji,” Atiku emphasized. “This so-called working visit is just another holiday pretending to be official duty.”
He concluded by asserting that Nigeria’s emergency isn’t politically manufactured, as was allegedly the case in Rivers State, but a real national collapse: “So, when will Tinubu declare a state of emergency on his own failed presidency?”