02/01/2026
Hardship must become fuel for national awakening
-Atiku Abubakar
In a new year message, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar said for millions of long-suffering Nigerians, “the only consolation is that 2025, one of the most punishing years in our recent history, has come to an end.
It was a year defined by economic suffocation, political recklessness, and governance without empathy under the All Progressives Congress, APC, administration.”
According to him, 2025 “exposed the incompetence and policy bankruptcy of President Bola Tinubu. Governing for months without a functional budget, the administration relied on propaganda while borrowing recklessly, pushing the nation to the brink of economic collapse.”
He said: “Nothing better captures the decay of this government than the scandal of a forged tax law, shamelessly branded a ‘reform.’ Even more disturbing was the President’s refusal to allow due legislative and legal processes to address what is clearly a criminal act. A government that begins reform with forgery cannot end with prosperity.
“In the same year, Nigeria’s democratic foundations were deliberately weakened, as the APC worked systematically to deform our multiparty democracy into a de facto one-party state through coercion, intimidation, and state capture. While drowning the nation in debt, the government falsely claimed to have met revenue targets.
“Meanwhile, insecurity worsened dramatically. Kidnappings, abductions, and violent crimes surged, affecting citizens young and old alike.
Lives were lost, livelihoods destroyed, and communities terrorised, while government assurances rang hollow. The administration spoke endlessly of economic recovery, yet unemployment, under-employment, labour unrest, and collapsing small businesses defined the year. Industries shut down. Workers were sent home. Hunger spread. Suffering became normalized.
Despite these failures, compounded by the appointment of undistinguished and unfit individuals to represent Nigeria abroad, the country survived, not because of government competence, but because of the resilience of its people.
I urge Nigerians to remain steadfast in the face of these hardships. Citizens are repeatedly told to ‘make sacrifices.’ Sacrifice is patriotic, but it becomes cruel when demanded by leaders who live extravagantly, insulated from the suffering of the people. Leadership without shared pain is not leadership; it is exploitation.
Small businesses, the backbone of job creation, are collapsing. Workers are losing jobs. Yet those in power prioritise comfort over conscience. This contradicts every principle of democratic governance.
