The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has issued a scathing response to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar after he reportedly accused both the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of plunging Nigeria into insecurity, hunger and widespread hardship.
In a statement on Sunday, APC spokesman in Lagos, Seye Oladejo, berated the former vice president, describing his remarks as a “delusional outburst” and insisting that Atiku lacks the moral authority to criticise any political party.
The statement followed Atiku’s comments in Taraba State during the unveiling of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) state secretariat, where he claimed the ADC was the only reliable political party in the country and accused the APC and PDP of inflicting poverty, unemployment and insecurity on Nigerians.
“I am in Taraba to inaugurate our new party office of the ADC, and I want you to hold the party with integrity,” Channels Television quoted Atiku as saying.
“Do not allow anybody to deceive you with any other party, because we have tasted other political parties, and they brought nothing but insecurity, hunger, poverty and unemployment.”
But the Lagos APC said Atiku was attempting to rewrite history, arguing that his actions while in office contributed significantly to the challenges Nigeria faces today.
It described him as the main reason for Nigeria’s economic collapse, pointing to the controversial privatisation exercises he supervised as vice president, which the party said resulted in the collapse of industries, loss of jobs and the sale of national assets to cronies.
“This is the same Atiku who personally supervised the infamous national assets auction, where Nigeria’s collective wealth was sold to himself, his friends, and faceless cronies through a scandalous privatization bazaar,” the statement read.
“Factories died. Jobs disappeared. Industries collapsed. And today, the same man wants to pretend he played no role? This is not just hypocrisy – it is legendary audacity.”
The party also blamed the rise of Boko Haram, widespread corruption and the mismanagement of oil revenues on the PDP era, insisting that today’s insecurity and economic troubles were seeded during the period Atiku served as a key player in government.
According to the Lagos APC, the former vice president’s long-running presidential ambition, marked by frequent defections across parties, has rendered him politically irrelevant. It described him as a wandering political relic who has repeatedly failed at the polls despite decades of attempts.
“His desperation for power – at any cost, on any platform, with anybody – is precisely why his political career is in irreversible decline,” the statement said.
“He has become a wandering political relic, hopping from PDP to APC to PDP to ADC and back, like a man auditioning for any party willing to pity him.
“Even political archaeologists would struggle to classify what Atiku now represents,”
The party maintained that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is currently rebuilding the nation’s security architecture, reforming the economy and addressing inherited structural decay attributed to past governments in which Atiku played a major role.
“A man rejected at the polls, rejected by his state, rejected by his party, and rejected by time should embrace silence,” Oladejo said.
“And as Atiku takes the final bow – because even he must know the curtains have fallen on his overstretched, exhausted ambition – he should devote his remaining valedictory days to restitution, seeking the forgiveness of Nigerians for the monumental economic and political crimes committed under his watch, and, where possible, paying reparation. This is not only for the sake of national accountability, but perhaps to preserve what remains of his huge extended family’s name, which has carried the burden of his controversies for far too long.”
As at the time of filing this report, Atiku, who recently joined the ADC ahead of the 2027 general election, has not yet responded to the Lagos APC’s statement.