Politics

Tinubu Offering Opposition Leaders N50m To Induce Them – Atiku

Tinubu Offering Opposition Leaders N50m To Induce Them – Atiku
  • PublishedJanuary 28, 2025

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress has been inducing opposition party leaders.

This was as he warned that Nigeria could lose its hard-fought democracy if it continues on the current trajectory.

He spoke on Monday in Abuja, as a panelist at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria, organised by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD), the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), and the National Peace Committee (NPC).

Atiku said Tinubu’s administration offered opposition leaders N50 million each.

He said, “I want to say it here publicly. I met with a political party leadership in the present opposition, and they told me flatly that this government gives them N50 million each.

READ ALSO

“Where do we go from here? This means that if we are not careful, we are talking to some of you here, but you are recipients of the N50 million from the APC government.

“Do we really want to fight for democracy? If we don’t, we all go back to our homes. But if we do, I have been in this struggle for over 30 years, an attempt was made on my life, and I escaped. I went into exile, but I never gave up. My businesses were taken over, and I am still surviving. So, you need to make up your mind. I am not doing it for myself. For me, I have lived my life. I am doing it because of you.

“We really are at a crossroads in this democratic experiment. We either decide we want to be democratic or we decide to abandon it,” he said, while alluding to the statement that it is the court that now decides candidates or winners, not the people.”

He said some of the challenges political parties were facing had moved to governance.

“Now, governance dictates to the political parties, whereas political parties should have been directing governance on what should be done because that is their role. They interact with ordinary people, go on campaigns, and so on,” he said.

He said the challenge should be to see how the National Assembly, through various laws and legislations, can help ensure this objective is achieved.

He recalled that he made some recommendations on the amendment of the Electoral Act, but added that he knew they would not be considered, even though they were made in good faith.

“With the current National Assembly, I don’t see them adopting most of the recommendations I made. As someone said here, we have a National Assembly that is a rubber stamp for the government. But I refuse to agree. It all depends on us,” he added.

He cited an example of how the Turkish electoral body refused to declare President Recep Erdogan as the winner after he fell short by 0.5% of the votes, having polled 49.5%, with the country’s constitution demanding a minimum of 50% for anyone to be declared the winner. He questioned whether Nigeria’s electoral umpire possesses such credibility.